The Atkins and Allsops travelled all the way to Peebles at the weekend to participate in the renowned MTB XC stage race at Glentress Forest. The event featured individual and inter-regional team competitions over 4 gruelling stages with Leon Atkins, Katie & Lucy Allsop finishing 1st, 2nd and 4th overall in their respective categories.
The (very wet!) weekend started with course practice and then the first event was the ITT on the Saturday evening. Katie (U12 Girls) was thrilled to take the win in 8.10. Leon finished 2nd by 1 second, the top spot to Sam Ferry, the local Enduro rider. Lucy completed the same course in 7.22, leaving her in 10th place to start the second day.
Day two started with the team relay, with each rider completing 1 lap of the XCO course before handing over to the next rider. This was a really fun event to watch and Team Ride for Charlie South (Leon’s team) won this race. Lucy’s team finished this event in 15th place overall.
Next was the individual XCO race, with Katie going off first in the U12s, on a slightly shortened course and 2 laps. She rode well to come second, behind her closest competitor Olivia Poole (Sender Ramps). Lucy had a fantastic XCO race over 4 laps of the full course, battling hard to come in eventual 5th out of 39 riders. Leon took an early lead and took the win from Innes MacDonald by 45 seconds.
The final event was the fast and furious XCC ‘Short Track’ – a dirt crit which was a massive crowd puller. The extremely exciting racing kicked off again with the U12s, and Katie was once again just pipped to the post by Olivia, leaving her in second place, and finishing the weekend in 2nd overall on GC.
Leon took the lead from the first corner in his race and held Sam Ferry off until the last lap when Sam managed to get away on the last half lap to take the win. Leon’s 2nd place was enough to secure overall victory for him and the Ride for Charlie South team.
Lucy’s U16 Youth Girls race was equally exciting, with positions changing every lap and tactics being played each lap on the lap. Sadly a crash going into the single-track on the final lap caused some riders, including Lucy, to get caught up and she finished 7th in the end. Lucy’s consistent performances meant that she only just missed out on a podium place in the overall GC, leaving her 4th overall after a fantastic weekend of racing.
Lucy was part of an U16 team formed from Central and Southern riders, so wasn’t eligible for the overall InterRegionals title, but loved the team atmosphere and had a brilliant time. Her team finished 10th overall in the Youth Category. Katie wasn’t old enough to be part of a team, but it was such a fabulous event that the girls are already talking about returning next year when Katie can be part of a Juvenile Team.
Our thanks for the organisers for organising a great event!