British NPS rd 1

There was a few Irish over at the first round of the British NPS round 1 in Sherwood Pines today. Mel and Claire Oakley in the elite Ladies and Robin and Matt Adair in Elite males. Mel finished 3rd and Robin got 25th. Both great results. I had a go at sports which is a different kettle of fish compared to sports in Ireland. Great close racing with a big field. Cracking weather and a nice fast course.

Round 2 is in Dalby on the 22nd of April.

Fair play Damo... how'd you get on? what's the racing / course like over there?

And how did you do in Sports?

I was 23rd in sports out of 60+. Course was totally flat and not particularly technical (I even managed to stay on the bike for the whole race). Racing was good after the usual first lap madness, always someone to dice with. Sports was a tad short at just over an hour though.

Jaysus they must all be very serious there, but Sports is the stepping stone to Experts and then Elites and not a leisure cat like it was here....
Where do you have to finish overall to be promoted to Experts, top 10?

yep sports is a long way from open and Fun ..

I think its top 10 in the national ranks at the end of the year.

Sounds like Cyclocross!

is sherwood pines worth going to for a spin if you were an hour down the road ??

Probably not, no. No real hills, nothing technical. Grand for an XC race but not for a spin. There may be other decent bits off the NPS course but I'd be surprised.