The 1st round of the National XC is always a hotly contested race with riders from all over the UK battling to test out their form off the back of a hard winter’s training and, following a strong performance at the Midlands XC, the team headed to the new venue of Pembrey Country Park in South Wales.

In the Men’s Expert race, new signing to the team, Jake Phelps, in his 1st Expert category race after graduating from the Junior class last year, took a commanding Gold Medal, despite losing minutes to a mid-race mechanical.

In the Women’s Elite race Jo Clay put in a career best result of 4th place, just seconds behind full time professional riders and her strongest result to date.

Up against a tough international field, Alex Welburn led the charge in the Men’s Elite race, coming away in 8th place ahead of Joe Griffiths, another new signing for 2016, in 21st.

Thank you to Andy Whitehouse for the images in this report.