Not content with winning both “World” titles, Manon Carpenter smashes the national one for good measure, while mountain biking legend Marc Beaumont took a well-deserved win. Here’s the full press release:

New World Champion and World Cup winner Manon Carpenter (Madison Saracen) and Gee Atherton’s teammate Marc Beaumont (GT Factory Racing) have been crowned the 2014 winners British Cycling’s National Downhill Series.

The overall series wins were not all straight-forward, however, with Tahnee Seagrave pipping Manon to the top Elite Women’s podium spot of the fifth and final stage by .1-seconds. The Welsh 21-year old Carpenter, who has enjoyed a stunning season this year, took second and, with it, the overall title.

In a similar turn of events in the Men’s Elite, Marc Beaumont was beaten into second in the race by Joe Smith (CRC/Nukeproof) but Marc’s silver placing was enough to overtake Carpenter’s Madison Saracen teammate, third placed Matt Simmonds, in the 2014 overall series.

The two Men’s Elite series leaders were absent, with new World Cup winner, Brit Josh Bryceland (Santa Cruz Syndicate), having sustained a broken foot in last week’s World Championships, while new World Champion Gee Atherton (GT Factory Racing) was rested by his team following last week’s heroics.

2014 has been one of the most hotly contested seasons between Elite MTB riders at all the major events, from British Cycling’s National Downhill Series through to UCI’s World Cup Series and last week’s World Championships, with Britain well represented on the podium throughout the year.

British Cycling’s National MTB Downhill Series, presented by Shimano, pits riders against the clock as they descend some of the toughest track terrain in the country, with points awarded for placings at each stage, accumulating across five rounds of the series. Each rider, from Junior through to Elite level, must have qualified via regional races and numerous Junior Winners of the series have gone on to become World Cup and World Championship Winners.

British Cycling Race Director, Simon Paton, comments “2014 has been an amazing year for Downhill MTB racing in general, an incredible year for British riders and an outstanding year for British Cycling’s National Downhill Series, the race series where the best riders in the world begin their racing careers. We’d like to thank the riders, the teams, the respective course owners and, of course, the spectators for making this year’s series something special”.

Round Five of the National Downhill Series took place at Bike Park Wales, near Merthyr Tydfil over 13 & 14 September. 2015’s calendar will be released in due course.

The full results are here.