It was national cyclocross championships weekend in the muddy fields of Europe over the past few days, as riders across the continent fought for the right to be the one who dirties their country’s shiny champ’s jersey beyond all recognition for the next 12 months.
In Belgium, European champion Thibau Nys added to his ever-growing jersey collection, along with fellow first-time national champ Marion Norbert Riberolle, while young phenoms Puck Pieterse and Tibor del Grosso bagged that much-coveted red, white, and blue jersey at the Dutch championships.
Meanwhile, on a wintery course at the Cyclopark in Gravesend, 24-year-old Xan Crees soloed to an emotional maiden British elite title, breaking clear alongside Cat Ferguson early on before dispatching the teenage Movistar sensation on the third lap.
(Olly Hassell/SWpix.com)
After building up a solid lead, Spectra Racing rider Crees was then forced to hold off a late Ferguson surge to secure the win by five seconds, as Visma-Lease a Bike’s Imogen Wolff finished a strong third.
In the men’s race, Cameron Mason put in a dominant display to beat closest challenger Ben Chilton by over three minutes and secure his third consecutive national title, after Thomas Mein – who was putting Mason on the backfoot during the opening few laps – was forced to abandon after a fall on the steps.
(Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
Not that we could see any of the racing – unless you were actually in Gravesend, of course.
Because, while previous British ‘cross champs have been available to watch on the BBC iPlayer, this year’s event was only accessible to those at home through (officially at least) live text updates and the occasional short clip on British Cycling’s social media page.
A STACKED elite women’s field gets our afternoon racing off to a flying start! 🚀 pic.twitter.com/tyJiRdL2AO
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) January 12, 2025
This lack of coverage was questioned in the lead-up to the events, with one fan asking under a cyclocross-themed British Cycling Instagram post: “Is the British National Championships being televised/streamed live anywhere?”
“You have to livestream it manually by going to Gravesend,” another sarcastically replied.
And that, bizarrely, was how it turned out.
After fans desperate to see the Kent-based action were warned about dodgy links purporting to be officially recognised by the governing body, up stepped a young teenage ‘cross fan named Kirstie, who filmed the race from the side of the course as part of a YouTube livestream and helpfully – and brilliantly – performed a running commentary on the racing in the process.
“Great job Kirstie, there’s nearly 350 of us watching you now. Brilliant. You are the official live stream of the British Cyclo-cross Championships!” one viewer commented on the teenager’s feed, which was uploaded to her YouTube page, ‘The World of Cycling According to Kirstie’.
In fact, Kirstie racked up a whopping 18,500 views across the two elite races for her livestream, with viewers joining all the way from the US too. So you can’t say there wasn’t a market for the coverage.
“I was super happy to do today's livestream at the National Championships and commentate on the race. It was really nice to see loads of people tuning in from all over the world,” Kirstie wrote on her YouTube channel after the race.
Nice use of the classic cycling trope ‘super happy’ too, Kirstie.
(Olly Hassell/SWpix.com)
And while the cost of broadcasting a bike race in Britain can be shockingly prohibitive – just ask the Tour of Britain – some fans felt very short-changed when it came to this year’s national ‘cross coverage.
“Just a shame there’s nowhere to watch this on a screen,” Andrew wrote under one of British Cycling’s short clips of the racing.
“BC have really dropped the ball on this,” added cycling writer Katy Madgwick.
(Olly Hassell/SWpix.com)
“Basically we are going to be relying on a teenager to stream live from the Cyclopark,” said Alex on BlueSky.
“Well done Kirstie, all kudos to you. Farcical by BC though. Not sure how the sport is meant to ignite fires and grow if there’s no live coverage anywhere.”
Who knows, maybe Eurosport will sign Kirstie up for next year?
Elsewhere during ‘cross champs weekend, one particularly greasy corner at the slip-and-slide mud fest that was Belgium’s Zolder circuit – which had been a veritable ice rink only 24 hours before, delaying the start of the youth races – was causing all sorts of problems for the U23 men:
Bunny-hopping a stray bike only to careen into the barriers yourself? Now that’s what I call cyclocross.
In case you missed it at the weekend:
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Bonus points for anyone who spotted the admittedly extremely obscure reference to a 1979 single by synth-punk band Suicide in the headline. And yes, I have too much time on my hands…