Halo British Downhill Series, Round 1, Nant Gwrtheyrn, Wales. 20th March 2011

George Gannicott, Youth Men: 2nd
Arran Gannicott, Elite Men: 28th

The Bikesoup Gravity team had an excellent first race at the 1st round of the Halo British Downhill Series.  Over 300 riders registered at the remote location of Nant Gwrtheyrn, a stunning setting in North Wales with a super rocky, steep technical track, made even more challenging for riders with extreme weather conditions.

Nant Gwrtheyrn is a natural steep technical race course that was established in 2009 and was first raced in August 2010. The top of the course starts in the woods  and makes its way down the hill in turns, drops and switchbacks; it also has a lot of natural rock sections and a 30ft rock garden. With the middle section of the course on wide track with a selection of jumps and drops and fast turns. The course then comes out of the woods and into the car park, goes under a stone archway, down some steps across an open section then a drop into the gardens of the centre and into the finish arena. The fastest expected time is estimated to be  around 2.25.  The start is 321meters above sea level.  The finish is 54meters above sea level.  Total vertical drop is 267metres and the track is 1.4kms long.

Day 1 for practice started off misty and wet but then the sun came out and each rider got in 8 runs, practicing lines for seeding and the timed race on day 2.

Both Arran and George loved their new race set up with Transition TR450 frames and Gravity components.  George ran Marzocchi 888 Ti forks and Arran Rock Shox Boxxers, with both looking forward to receiving new 2011 Marzocchi forks before the next round.  The boys said the handling of their new bikes marked a significant difference to anything they had ridden before, the frame giving them directional confidence, coupled with super light, strong Gravity components they felt they had an edge. www.ridegravity.com

Despite George crashing in practice and having to change his forks, both were very happy and confident with their race bikes and both spent time testing out tyres and disc brake rotors for the best set-up.

Day 2 turned the track into a different beast with solid horizontal rain and mist churning the track into a slippery rocky fast descent, with many riders crashing.  Light conditions also caused more challenges, due to long sections of the track running through a fairly dark forest, rain and mud being thrown into their line of sight.   Seeding was cancelled halfway through the day due to a young rider on another team taking a really bad crash and was taken to hospital with a suspected broken pelvis and leg.

Riding was resumed after the delay with the crash, with juvenile, youth and vet riders starting their timed race run as per their seeded times and all other categories starting their timed race run as per their pre seeded places.

George Gannicott seeded at number 2, ran a great race despite the shocking weather and a really tough track and secured 2nd place with a time of 2.35.174.   He wanted to win and disappointed not to get 1st place, but is focused on securing this at the next race.

This was Arran Gannicott’s first race in elite men category, with a huge elite field and up against nearly 50 elite riders.  Many with 15 years experience on the British and World Cup scene, including 2009 UCI World Champion Steve Peat and top ten World Cup riders Marc Beaumont, Matti Lehikoinen and Josh Bryceland.  Arran ran a great race, faster than 15 experienced elite riders and came in 28th place at 2.34.741.  His was clocked at 23.31mph, just 3 seconds off 1st place Marc Beaumont, GT, at 26.63mph.  He is focused on going faster at the next race and getting closer to the top ten.

Overall this was an excellent first race for both Arran and George.
Official jerseys were delayed in arriving, however these will be ready for round 2 of the Halo British Downhill Series, which takes place at Moelfre, West of Oswestry, Mid Wales on the 10th April 2011.

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