NPS Round 2 Cornwall

My latest race was the second round of the national series which was taking place in Redruth, Cornwall. It was a big drive to get down there but we found the course and had a quick look around to see it was mostly in an old quarry with lots of little technical features and short climbs. We did some course practice on the Saturday and then headed to the hotel for a good night’s sleep before race day.
There was no international competition for this round so I had a gridding of 5th and that allowed me to start on the front row which is nice. The race began fast with a bit of a battle to get into the first descent before it settled down and a group of four of us formed at the front. It was a windy day and with it being 7 laps of a short hard course I decided to be careful not to use too much energy early on in the race. Four turned into three after about halfway through the race which was me, Kenta Gallagher and Hamish Batchalor. It stayed like this until just over a lap to go where I decided that I needed to have a go early before it came down to a sprint, I managed to open up a small advantage on an small climb on the run into the finish and from there I was able to build up a small lead into the final lap. I went hard through the whole of the last lap but also careful not to make any mistakes which might cost me and I managed to hold it to the line and take the win. It was my first mountain bike win in the Elite category so I was very pleased. Next up for me was a training camp with Oli Beckingsale which was very good and enjoyable camp before I head of to the first rounds of the World Cup next week.
Thanks for reading
Grant