2026/27 Cyclo-cross National Trophy Round 2, Pontypool: report and results

Anna Patterson (IGNITE Race Team) and James Swadling (Pedal Power Loughborough) won the elite races as the Cyclo-cross National Trophy returned to Wales for the first time since 2019. Round two clashed with the European Championships in Zeddam, so none of Derby’s four winners was at Pontypool Park, and both elite series have new leaders.

Patterson won the women’s race by 38 seconds from Ruby James (Hope Factory Racing) and now leads the series and the U23 standings. Swadling held off Joseph Beckingsale (Mypad Racing p/b ONDO Sports) by 5.5 seconds in the open race, but the series lead goes to Finn Mansfield (Grity Race Team), seventh on the day.

Both junior races came down to duels. James Hardisty (Grity Race Team) reeled in Charlie Albone (Shibden Cycling Club) to win the open race, and Jessica Oldham (Hope Factory Racing) never let Charlotte Lissaman (Pine Sport) get far away before beating her in a last-lap sprint. Round three is at Cyclopark in Gravesend on 28 and 29 November.

Reports

Sunday was bright, dry and cool. There were no great pools of standing mud, but Saturday’s masters and youth races had left the off-camber sections greasy and the mud sticky enough to clag, and several steep banks forced riders off their bikes to run. It made for an attritional day.

Junior Open

James Hardisty (Grity Race Team) won the junior open race by 10.8 seconds from Charlie Albone (Shibden Cycling Club), coming back from about 20 seconds down, with Alarik Knox (Verulam Megan’s RT) third.

Albone was quickest away and led by 4.8 seconds at the end of the first of six laps. While Hardisty and Roch Morgan (Utmost-Mezzo IOM Junior Cycling) disputed second, Albone stretched his lead with a run of fast laps.

Hardisty took second back, then overturned Albone’s lead with two fast laps, the fourth and fifth, to lead by 13 seconds with a lap to go. He controlled the last lap to take his first Trophy win.

“Charlie had a gap but I got into a rhythm and focused on not making mistakes,” Hardisty told The British Continental. “I still felt strong towards the end of the race and am happy to win my first National.”

Albone held on for second, eight seconds clear of Knox, who was fifth after the first lap and ran out of laps to close the gap. Guy Herrington (Oxonian CC) was fourth and Morgan fifth.

Hardisty, seventh at Derby, leads the series on 335 points, 30 ahead of Albone. “I’m happy to be in the series lead and am looking forward to Cyclopark,” he said, “but I know a lot of good riders weren’t here today.”

Junior Women

Jessica Oldham (Hope Factory Racing) won the junior women’s race by 1.5 seconds from Charlotte Lissaman (Pine Sport) after a last-lap sprint, with Phoebe Langlands (Spokes RT–Oscar Onley Development) third. With Derby winner Aisling Charlesworth absent, there was always going to be a new winner.

Oldham led through the opening lap with Lissaman close behind, and by the end of it the pair were together and already 16 seconds clear of Langlands. They were never under threat from behind, which left them free to race each other.

“On the start I managed to get a gap on the other girls and just kept pushing from there,” Oldham told The British Continental. “Charlotte then closed the gap to me when I made a slight mistake on the descent, and from there the battle began.”

Lissaman edged four seconds clear on the second lap, but Oldham closed the gap to 0.3 seconds on the third, and it stayed that close until the fifth and final lap.

Going into the last lap on a greasy circuit, it was anyone’s guess who would win. “It was a very intense last lap, as I knew to get the win I had to be into the final pit straight first and push all the way to the finish without any mistakes,” Oldham said. She had the stronger finish and outsprinted Lissaman to open a gap of perhaps five metres.

Amber Mauger (IGNITE Race Team) was fourth and Katie Colling (Shibden Cycling Club) fifth.

Oldham, sixth at Derby, leads the series on 340 points, level with Lissaman but ahead on the tie-break, which goes to the better place in the latest round. It was her first podium and first win in a national cyclo-cross race. “It shows the hard work is starting to pay off,” she said. “So moving on to Cyclopark, I can’t wait to race in the leader’s jersey.”

Elite Women

Anna Patterson (IGNITE Race Team) won the elite women’s race by 38 seconds from Ruby James (Hope Factory Racing), with Rebecca Woodvine (Fossa Racing) third. A second-year U23, Patterson also took the U23 win, the biggest result of her career since she stepped up to the elite category.

Woodvine made the fastest start and led by 11.4 seconds at the end of the first lap. Patterson overhauled her on the second with a 7min11sec lap and never gave up the lead. She extended it on every lap but the sixth and finished almost a minute ahead of Woodvine, the next U23.

Behind her, James passed Woodvine on the fourth of seven laps, but the gap was still only about seven seconds a lap later. James pulled clear on the sixth, and Woodvine held on for third and second U23.

Woodvine’s fast start was deliberate. “The plan was to go hard from the start, stay out of any danger and then settle into my rhythm,” she told The British Continental. “I was able to do that on the first lap, and then settled into a more consistent pace over the next few laps. Ruby and I had a great battle for the remaining podium spots, so I was really pleased to come away with third and the U23 result.”

Kate Eedy (Team Empella) was fourth and won the Masters 40 category, climbing from eighth on the second lap through battles with Victoria Peel (Hope Factory Racing) and the privateer Honor Elliott, who finished fifth. Megan Cherry (camsmajaco) was ninth and third U23.

Patterson, 12th at Derby, leads the series on 312 points, 12 ahead of Woodvine and Elliott. She also leads the U23 standings, level with Woodvine on 340 points but ahead on the tie-break.

Elite Open

James Swadling (Pedal Power Loughborough) won the elite open race by 5.5 seconds from Joseph Beckingsale (Mypad Racing p/b ONDO Sports), with Jody Mills (Team HUP) third and the first U23. None of Derby’s top three, Thomas Mein, Alfie Amey, and Luke Gibson, raced in Pontypool.

Mak Larkin (GMS Cycling Team Glabbeek) led at the end of the first of ten laps, 2.7 seconds ahead of Swadling and 3.1 ahead of Beckingsale. For the next three laps Larkin and Swadling rode together at the front, with Spencer Corder (ROTOR Race Team) six to ten seconds behind in third. Beckingsale lost ten seconds on the second lap and dropped to fourth.

The race turned on laps six and seven. Swadling edged ahead around halfway, making his efforts on the two climbs in the back half of the course. “I had seen Spencer Corder coming, so I wanted to get ahead of Mak before the run-up so I could push on over the hill and try to get a gap before Spencer bridged across,” he told The British Continental.

Larkin lost about ten seconds on each of those laps, enough to drop him to fourth. “I was feeling pretty strong but dropped my chain and it got jammed in the chain catcher,” he told The British Continental. “After that mistakes just kept happening.” He also aggravated an old knee injury.

Beckingsale went the other way. Nobody rode the seventh lap faster, and it took him past Larkin and Corder into second, about ten seconds behind Swadling.

Beckingsale held the gap at around ten seconds for two more laps and took four seconds out of Swadling on the last, but Swadling had enough in hand. “I saw Joe coming three to go and stuck with the same strategy up the climbs, but just went all in on the last three laps to keep him away,” Swadling said. “I think he was closing on the other half, but I was able to maintain my gap to the end.”

Mills had the strongest finish of all. Sixth and about 45 seconds down at halfway, he picked off Larkin late on, then caught and passed Corder on the final lap. He rode it in 6min22sec, the fastest last lap in the field, and finished 23.7 seconds down.

Corder held on to fourth by a second from Samuel Nisbet (Team Tactic U23), who was 19th after the first lap, almost half a minute behind the leader, and worked his way through the field. Larkin finished sixth, 49 seconds down. “Pretty disappointing because the win was definitely possible,” he said, “but a long season to go.”

Finn Mansfield (Grity Race Team), fourth at Derby and seventh here, leads the series on 295 points, ten ahead of Swadling and 13 ahead of Mills, who also leads the U23 standings, 20 points clear of Larkin.

Results

Junior Open

Pos	Bib	Rider	Team	Time
1	4	James Hardisty	Grity Race Team	0:40:52.5
2	3	Charlie Albone	Shibden Cycling Club	0:41:03.3
3	1	Alarik Knox	Verulam Megan’s RT	0:41:11.7
4	17	Guy Herrington	Oxonian CC	0:41:37.7
5	2	Roch Morgan	Utmost-Mezzo IOM Junior Cycling	0:41:45.4
6	23	Finley Hudson	Harrogate Nova Race Team	0:41:45.9
7	10	Zack Stobbs	Otley Cycle Club	0:42:40.4
8	9	Edward Graves	4T+ Cyclopark	0:42:43.8
9	16	Thomas Cragg	Clancy Briggs Cycling Academy	0:43:04.0
10	19	Tom Allen	IGNITE Race Team	0:43:20.6
11	8	Oscar Shaw	ROTOR Race Team	0:43:22.8
12	15	Reuben Harrington	Grity Race Team	0:43:35.2
13	11	Joseph Taylor	Derby Mercury RC	0:43:41.2
14	21	Daniel Branford	Poole Wheelers CC	0:43:43.7
15	24	Finley Staunton	Sprockets Cycle Club	0:43:43.9
16	30	Felix Oliver	Clancy Briggs Cycling Academy	0:44:18.5
17	26	Joseph Throp	Matlock CC	0:44:31.0
18	6	Daniel Elliott	Welwyn Wheelers CC	0:44:47.2
19	13	Oliver Glass	Northumbria Cycling Academy	0:44:53.7
20	38	Sam Oldham	Shibden Cycling Club	0:45:00.2
21	7	Daniel Davies	camsmajaco	0:45:06.4
22	39	Finley Cummins	WestSide Coaching 73 Degrees	0:45:06.5
23	14	George Wood	Next Step Cycle Coaching	0:45:09.9
24	31	William Pickering	Shibden Cycling Club	0:45:43.7
25	20	William McEwan	Northumbria Cycling Academy	0:46:17.6
26	29	Brodie Wilkinson	Bigfoot Youth Cycle Club	0:46:35.0
27	28	Will Hocking	North Cheshire Clarion	0:46:49.9
28	5	Theo Wan	Beeston Cycling Club	0:46:50.2
29	25	Yousef Hardaker	Inspire Racing Henrys Ark	0:47:15.1
30	18	Benjamin Whitehouse	RR23–runandride.co.uk	0:47:44.2
31	33	Theo Mcfadden	Inspire Racing Henrys Ark	0:47:51.1
32	40	Jamie Brough	Matlock CC	0:47:59.6
33	27	Jacob Wilson	Northumbria Cycling Academy	0:48:21.8
34	32	Henry Palmer	Inspire Racing Henrys Ark	0:48:35.2
35	41	Ben Fiennes	Sprockets Cycle Club	0:41:30.1 (5 laps)
36	34	Carl Sillitoe	Northumbria Cycling Academy	0:43:01.0 (5 laps)
37	35	Jake Stubbs	RideRevolution Coaching	0:44:43.7 (5 laps)
38	36	Alexander Campbell	Limited Edition Cycling	0:44:48.5 (5 laps)
39	37	Charlie Taylor	Clancy Briggs Cycling Academy	0:46:07.2 (5 laps)
DNF	22	Samuel Freeman	Beeston Cycling Club
DNS	12	Thomas Wilks	Beeston Cycling Club

Junior Women

Pos	Bib	Rider	Team	Time
1	55	Jessica Oldham	Hope Factory Racing	0:41:08.9
2	51	Charlotte Lissaman	Pine Sport	0:41:10.4
3	57	Phoebe Langlands	Spokes RT–Oscar Onley Development	0:42:49.0
4	56	Amber Mauger	IGNITE Race Team	0:43:21.7
5	52	Katie Colling	Shibden Cycling Club	0:43:47.2
6	54	Nicole Anderson	Grity Race Team	0:46:07.0
7	58	Sophie Jacobs	IGNITE Race Team	0:48:50.8
8	59	Rosie Shorney	Derby Mercury RC	0:39:56.6 (4 laps)
DNS	53	Scarlett Ford	Liv CC–Halo Films

Elite Women

Pos	Bib	Rider	Team	Cat	Time
1	9	Anna Patterson	IGNITE Race Team	U23	0:51:52.3
2	8	Ruby James	Hope Factory Racing	Snr	0:52:30.4
3	7	Rebecca Woodvine	Fossa Racing	U23	0:52:51.0
4	5	Kate Eedy	Team Empella	Mst40	0:53:15.0
5	6	Honor Elliott		Snr	0:54:58.2
6	11	Victoria Peel	Hope Factory Racing	Snr	0:55:02.7
7	12	Adeline Moreau	Magspeed Racing	Snr	0:55:21.9
8	15	Melissa Baker	Team Empella	Snr	0:55:46.6
9	4	Megan Cherry	camsmajaco	U23	0:56:00.2
10	10	Esme Wiley	London Academy	U23	0:56:37.0
11	3	Sophie Thackray	Paceline Cycles North	Snr	0:56:46.8
12	13	Emily Jones	DRAFT	Snr	0:57:03.5
13	21	Isla Hoult	Velo Club Venta	U23	0:57:30.0
14	20	Faye Williams	ROTOR Race Team	U23	0:57:49.6
15	1	Iris Gray		U23	0:57:59.7
16	2	Georgia Mahoney	Magspeed Racing	U23	0:58:59.5
17	22	Cassandra Mackintosh	Shibden Cycling Club	Snr	0:59:25.4
18	23	Elena Taylor	Magspeed Racing	Snr	1:00:10.8
19	18	Abigail Miller	University of Nottingham CC	U23	0:52:05.8 (6 laps)
20	25	Roisin Lally	Grity Race Team	Snr	0:53:20.1 (6 laps)
21	19	Hayleigh Wyle Smith	Wyled Ride	U23	0:54:42.7 (6 laps)
22	24	Tilly Anema		Snr	0:59:35.7 (6 laps)
DNF	17	Amelia Staunton	Brother UK – On Form	U23
DNS	16	Tia Taylor	360cycling	U23

Elite Open

Pos	Bib	Rider	Team	Cat	Time
1	1	James Swadling	Pedal Power Loughborough	Snr	1:04:19.9
2	2	Joseph Beckingsale	Mypad Racing p/b ONDO Sports	Snr	1:04:25.4
3	8	Jody Mills	Team HUP	U23	1:04:43.6
4	4	Spencer Corder	ROTOR Race Team	U23	1:04:56.2
5	3	Samuel Nisbet	Team Tactic U23	Snr	1:04:57.2
6	6	Mak Larkin	GMS Cycling Team Glabbeek	U23	1:05:09.0
7	5	Finn Mansfield	Grity Race Team	Snr	1:05:27.8
8	9	Kieran Jarvis	Ornata Factory Racing	Snr	1:05:47.4
9	10	Jack Hastings	Cardiff JIF	Snr	1:06:03.2
10	16	Steven James	Hope Factory Racing	Snr	1:06:03.3
11	20	Joseph Taylor	Magspeed Racing	Snr	1:06:06.5
12	13	Oliver Barker	Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli	U23	1:07:21.2
13	22	Finlay Mowat	Avid Sport	U23	1:07:31.8
14	11	Samuel Morris	Bridgnorth Cycling Club	Snr	1:07:42.6
15	14	Patrick Kiehlmann	Billy Bilsland Cycles	Snr	1:07:43.6
16	7	Tom Couzens	Ribble Hunt Racing	Snr	1:08:14.7
17	17	George Thompson	Rose Race Team	Snr	1:08:31.2
18	32	Simon Wyllie	Spectra Racing	Snr	1:08:48.2
19	19	Gino Casale	PGR	U23	1:08:57.8
20	21	Eli Tucker	DRAFT	Snr	1:09:13.2
21	12	Jack Morgan	IGNITE Race Team	U23	1:09:22.1
22	28	Cameron Hurst	Schils – Doltcini Racing Team	Snr	1:09:51.9
23	29	Jake Summers	ROTOR Race Team	U23	1:10:31.4
24	24	Dan Clark	Magspeed Racing	Snr	1:11:40.8
25	30	Daniel Hall	Colchester Rovers CC	Snr	1:04:22.7 (9 laps)
26	27	Theo Clarke		Snr	1:05:29.3 (9 laps)
27	18	Max Avery	Ornata Factory Racing	Snr	1:05:35.0 (9 laps)
28	33	Nicholas Lodge	DRAFT	Snr	1:05:59.3 (9 laps)
29	34	Lee Adams	Tavistock Whlrs Cycling Club	Snr	1:06:12.7 (9 laps)
30	25	Robin Godden	Hope Factory Racing	Snr	1:07:11.4 (9 laps)
31	26	Scott Chalmers	Magspeed Racing	Snr	1:07:24.8 (9 laps)
32	35	Robert Livings	Pontypool RCC	Snr	1:11:02.0 (9 laps)
33	31	Ollie Smith		Snr	1:05:51.1 (8 laps)
DNS	15	Sam Kettlewell	TAAP Kalas	Snr
DNS	23	Cameron Annable	Scotia Offroad Race Team (SORT)	U23