2016 Dates and Venues confirmed for British Cycling’s National Downhill Mountain Bike Series – the BDS.

Words: BDS Official

The series, won by Manon Carpenter and Joe Smith in 2015, will kick off on the 2nd of April at Ae Forest in Dumfries and will conclude in September at the steep and technical track that is Llangolen. In between the series will visit Fort William, Rhyd-Y-Felin, Moelfre, and Powys.

British Cycling’s Cycle Sport Manager, Jonathan Day, said: “We are delighted to be able to confirm the dates for the 2016 British Cycling Downhill Series. The series was a huge success in 2015 with some great racing and fantastic crowds. “The 2016 series will take in some of the biggest mountain bike venues across the country and showcase some of the best riders in the world.”

The series will visit the Revolution Bike Park in Powys for the very first time. Situated just over the Welsh border at the foot of Snowdonia National Park, the trails are set in 100 acres of woodland and include over 300 metres of vertical descent.

Series organiser, Si Paton, said: “We are very pleased to be able to welcome the event at Revolution Bike Park to the calendar for 2016. It’s a brilliant venue and will offer riders a new challenge. “We have seen amazing performances from British riders on the world stage since we took over the National Series and it is vital that we have high quality venues available across the county to strengthen the talent of the BDS racers.

New for 2016 will be Action Sports Timing who will be providing live timing and results for each rider throughout practice, seeding and race runs. This will change the face of the BDS with riders encouraging themselves to complete full runs and inherently going faster.

Expect further exciting announcements regards the series prior to the entries opening at 09:00 on Saturday the 2nd of January 2016 via the British Cycling website.”

BDS Rd1 2nd/3rd April Ae Forest
BDS Rd2 14th/15th May Fort William
BDS Rd3 28th/29th May Rhyd-Y-Felin
BDS Rd4 25th/26th June Moelfre
BDS Rd5 27th/28th August Revolution
BDS Rd6 17th/18th September Llangollen