Jack Finch upsets the form book at a sunny Pippingford Estate.

Jack Finch today wrote a new chapter in the VC Deal success story of producing youth and junior riders who excel at national level, turning the formbook upside down to convincingly win the National Youth MTB XC Championships at Pippingford, near East Grinstead.

Now Jack’s been a good rider for a while, enjoying a high level of success at local and regional level, but he’s never really troubled the front end of a national race, well at least not until today. Although never one to saddle riders I coach with unrealistic expectations, in Jack’s case I have clearly seriously underestimated his abilities.

The first of our champions not to have been entirely “home grown”, I would like to think that I and VC Deal have created for Jack the environment and structure that has allowed him to blossom. Ever since he joined us from VC Londres some eighteen months ago, Jack has always impressed me with his commitment and work ethic. He had a good cross season last winter, winning the London League for the second year in succession, but his best result in a National Trophy race was sixth, and in the other Trophy Rounds he fared far less well.

He trained well after the end of the cross season and started well in early season local road and mountain bike races, but a niggling chest infection knocked him back for several weeks, in fact he’s only recently fully recovered. He’s been going much better lately, but even then he was only 5th last week in the Southern XC Round at Borden, Hampshire last Sunday, there was certainly no hint of what was to come today.

Going in to today’s National Championships then, I don’t think that Jack's name would have been in many people’s minds when it came to predicting likely podium riders, let alone as a potential winner. However, Jack’s weeks and months of commitment and hard work were to pay off in spades.

He got a good start amongst the 38 riders contesting the Youth category of this years national championships and with the first of three laps gone, a leading pair had emerged consisting of big pre-race favourite Alex Baker of the Orange Monkey team and Alex Welburn of Maxgear RT, a few seconds back it was Jack, followed by Hargroves Cycles Harry Franklin.

The end of each lap featured a long climb back up to the arena from the lower sections of the course. As they came to the foot of the climb the race positions were much as they were a lap earlier, Jack just off the back of the leading duo. By now Jack had realised he was on a great day and feeling good. He attacked on the climb and turned a few seconds deficit in to a twelve second lead at the top of the climb. It wasn’t much, but the championship was won with the move. The other riders simply had no answer to Jack’s powerful attack, and from there he simply rode away to win alone by a tickle over a minute. Certainly as he crested the climb at the end of the race, there was no-one else in sight, and he had plenty of time to savour his victory.

All the sweeter for being unexpected and against the form book, this was Jack’s achievement. He’s modest and unassuming, there are no histrionics when things don’t go well, and he doesn’t let ill health and bad luck knock him back, but he’s not afraid to mix it with reputations greater than his own either. His temperament and willingness to take on a challenge is why he was able to take advantage of the kind of day all bike riders’ dream of, but few experience, those rare days when you are so strong you feel that you could take on the world. He wasn’t lucky, his rivals didn’t experience misfortune, on this day, and I hope on many others to come, Jack was simply the best youth MTB cross country racer in the country.

This was Jack’s day, one to savour, and one that has shown him and everyone else what he is capable of. I don’t want anything to detract from that, but it would be unfair not to mention that Jack Spicer also had a great ride, finishing one place outside the top ten in eleventh place. Jack’s getting better and better, knocking on the door of a top ten in a national championships makes you a good rider in my book. My pre-event best bet for a VC Deal podium place, Tom Butler only got two minutes in to the Juvenile Mens race before an inch gash in his tyre ended his race prematurely. Tom’s day I think will come, but for now let’s all celebrate Jack Finch’s well deserved win.

Click herefor my photos from the Youth and Juvenile races.

Richard Wood