![]() As Peter sealed the deal with a few hours left to go, Matt finally gave into the fatigue and took a short, hour-long break. The excitement came thick and fast both in the men's and women’s race as well as the pairs! Peter Batt and Matt Seward were almost neck and neck with less than 30 mins between as they both rode non-stop from start to finish. A time to test kit, tactics and fitness for the season ahead we saw some extraordinary cycling. This small but mighty adventure saw a sawtooth elevation profile offering 14,000m of elevation.Ī May-time race was the perfect leg opener for many Transcontinental Race hopefuls from the UK. Meg was followed closely by pair Lorah Pierre and Tom Hall ten minutes later, with Nicky rolling into Arnside pier a couple of hours after that.Ī new race for 2022, the grassroots Perfidious Albion team split their 2021 course in two making a new 800km race. ![]() A strong ride from Meg, but not quite enough to catch Sally Ozanne’s course record of 1d 20h 58m from the previous year. Following many instances of stealth leapfrogging, Meg Pugh took her chance and slipped by Nicky Shaw during the final night, bagging the top spot in a time of 2d 2h 20m. The women’s race was hotly contested with a resilient field of 38. Chris finished in a very respectable second place, cementing himself as a force to be reckoned with considering his country mile win of the Great British Divide in 2021. This could be thanks to the pressure applied by Chris Hinds, who was leading for much of the race with Harry Walton hot on the pair’s wheels. In the pairs, Debbie Chambers and Emma McCosh took the crown, a fantastic race by them, winning by 8 hours.Īs one of the great early season openers of the European bikepacking season, 2022 saw the 5th edition of the off-road epic which traces the contours of the delightful Dales from west to east coast, and back again.Īngus Young blasted around 604km of rough terrain in a blistering time of 1d 11h 44m, setting a new course record set previously by James Craven the year before. This allowed Rookie Emma Bateup to sneak by, taking the women’s race. In the women’s race, Ali Wilson led the charge for a significant portion of the race but, after setting off without her pair she met some trouble on the trail and sensibly took a few hours out. In such a long and technical race, the mere 5-hour gap between first and third proved just how hard these riders had to work. Jakub Sliacan pulled ahead and just had to keep his rapid pace up to take the crown with Bruce Hughes nipping at his heels, followed extremely closely by Steve Halligan. In the beginning of this adventure, the front four pushed on quickly with little space between them. With private land sections, this route is only available to ride when the legendary race is on. We kicked off the 2022 Season with The Tour Te Waipounamu, an off-road race that tackles the length of New Zealand’s South Island. ![]() We particularly enjoyed Taylor Doyle’s principled ride at the Pan Celtic Race and Spencer Gough’s solution to his puncture troubles which fully embodied what it’s like to race in a faraway land. Have a read below to learn about some of the stories to have come from the front of the pack and elsewhere at events this year. We believe this is a sign of the increased competitiveness across genders we’ve all been waiting to see and look forward to even more female representation in 2023. Alongside Jana, a handful of other women, including Luisa Werner, Cynthia Frazier and Sarah Cinquini, cracked the top ten for the first time in their bikepacking careers. Jana Kesenheimer is a great case in point of a rider who’s committed themselves to progress over the past three seasons she finished 37th overall at the Three Peaks Bike Race in 2020 in her rookie race, but only a year later she finished 5th at the same race and in 2022 was not seen outside the top 10 in both the races she finished. However, we feel this increasing prevalence of women at the pointy end of races is more sustainable. There have been instances of women storming to win a race outright over the years but these have often felt anomalies and unobtainable. ![]() One trend we've thoroughly enjoyed watching take place in 2022 is the increased representation of women finishing in the top 10 at races. The increasing popularity of the sport has been met with races cropping up around the world to satiate our growing appetites for dotwatching, we’ve been treated to events in new regions, such as the Trans Balkan Race and MittelgebirgeClassic, alongside some of the firm favourites we all know and love. The greatest delight of commentating on a growing sport is feasting on the many new and exciting races, along with the old stalwarts of the bikepacking scene. ![]()
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