29 MARCH 2026

North Berks MCC held the second round of the 2026 ACU S3-Parts National Trials Championship this weekend. Stratford-Upon-Avon’s Colmore Cup was the first round last weekend, conditions were obviously really wet after the constant rain we have been experiencing. As always, this popular championship is well supported this year, we had a fantastic entry of 107 riders, so were looking forward to a great days sport in and around the Berkshire Downs. The club were really pleased to be back with the event this year, after having to cancel it last year, losing the use of a pivotal part of the route. Thankfully, Nappers Lane is back open again, so we could go ahead. We were lucky with the weather, a few short sharp showers early on, but we actually had some sunshine toward the end of the day.

The action started at 9:31, Stephen De Carteret was the first rider to be sent off. Three sections had been laid-out in the Arena to get the competitors underway, before leaving and heading down the road through Aston Tirrold village and out on to the A417 to the second group, The Lynch. There were 7 sections along the bank, the marking out team had been out a month before the event to cut these sections out. The banks were pretty slippery for the early riders, due to a few showers first thing, but the later numbers did find more grip. On completing this group of challenging sections, the riders headed back around the field, up Westfield Road heading back to the A417.

The riders were then faced with 2 sections at Aston Pit, a couple of classic chalky banks just off the main road, the first one fairly straight-forward, but the second, a lot more demanding with some decent off-cambered climbs which challenged in the wet conditions.

Once completed, the riders emerged from the old pit, back onto the track and up the hill towards Air-raid Shelter, where they found group 4, consisting of 6 sections this year. The sections were set along the steep wooded hillside, consisting of loose climbs, cambered turns and hazardous tree roots to deal with. Again, considering the amount of rain we’ve had over the last few months the ground on this steep bank was amazingly grippy, they just needed to be steady and smooth with the throttle. The final section always takes marks, the experts had to negotiate some big roots, then squeeze between two trees and head up the hill to more roots and tight turn before dropping back down to end gates.

Once the riders had completed this group and dropped back down to the path, they were treated to a great ride on Byways for a good few miles following the route markings across the gallops to Upton village, eventually emerging back onto the A417 again. Bucknell’s Copse was the next group just off the main road on the left. These two sections are usually pivotal in the trial, and can be the ultimate decider on the winner of the event. The two sections both have tricky climbs out of the muddy stream at the bottom – not for the feint hearted, it’s basically grab a big handful of throttle and hang on. The first one, having been used for many years, the slot that the Expert riders ascend has got so deep now that the foot pegs are literally dragging in the walls of the gully so the way to go was to try to keep the front wheel high, then hook it left when nearing the top to force it through the end gates. Wiggy and Joe Collins were the only experts to get out for a single mark, the rest made it out for either 3’s or 5’s. This is always a popular spot for spectators and there were plenty there watching the action unfold.

Once the riders had dragged themselves out of Bucknell’s, it was a quick hop across the road where punchcards were swapped for new ones. A single section here in the stream next to the road, Strange’s Gate – The stream was running very high. The expert route crossed the stream three times, full commitment required to leap from one bank to the other, threading the bike through the trees on the banks. The clubman route was a lot more straighforward, but joined back up with the hard route with a tricky turn up and over the muddy roots to reach the ends cards.

Once that one was negotiated, it was a short ride through West Hagbourne village to group 7, Nappers Railway Banks, where the riders found 4 sections – steep adverse cambers and climbs on the old disused railway banks, a fair amount of grip on the well drained gravel banking but the last one here is always a test of skill and throttle control, very steep with a lot of roots to negotiate.

They then headed down Nappers Lane, which is open to traffic again, thankfully. The Moors, where we run our Boxing Day trial were the next group to challenge the riders. 4 sections, two in the lane itself and two in the field. Yet again the stream here was in full flow still so the section by the gate had to be eased just before the event. Once these were completed, it was a ride back to Seymours Arena where they found the final 7 sections amongst the rocky banks and steps, a few relatively steady ones and a couple of challenging ones to sort the top class out.

It was very close at the sharp end of the S3 Expert class. Congratulations to Alexz Wigg, who took the win this year, completing the 36 sections for the loss of just 17 marks. Sam Haslam, four marks behind on 21, third place was taken by Sam Yeomans on 22 who tied with Joe Collins but took the win on number of cleans.

North Berks rider Will McBain took the win on the S3 Clubman route, dropping just 10 marks, great ride Will!, Jack Stiles also dropped 10 marks but Will took the win on number of cleans. David Mawer took third place just a few behind on 16.

The top end of the S3 Clubman Over 40 class was again very close. Brian Francis took top spot on 14 marks, Ben Skinner just one mark behind on 15, with Phil Wiffen taking third place this year dropping 18.

Congratulations to the winners of each class. We hope you all had an enjoyable day with us, good luck with the rest of the Championship. Looking at the results it seems that the marking out team did a pretty good job, it was a tough day, but as always the feedback was positive.

The club would like to thank everyone that helped out with the event again this year. Well done to Claire on event secretary duties; Claire and Alicia for getting the riders signed on first thing; Stu for sorting the observers out; Pat & Pat on the clock at the start, getting the riders away; Scott for his hard work stepping into Stu’s usual role, route marking and opening the sections prior to the start; Sue and Amberley on punchcard duty at Stranges Gate; Pat & Pat again, for de-bibbing the riders at the end; Sue getting the results done and out sharpish on the evening, a lot of number crunching there, 100 odd riders over 36 sections. We apologise for the lack of catering, we know everyone was expecting food and drink as usual. Stu received a phone call from our catering man on the morning explaining that the wheel had fallen off the van ‘bizarrely’, so were unable to attend, there was a scrabble to find a replacement, but to no avail sadly.

Stu has been waiting for a knee operation for a long time. Typically, he was offered a date a few weeks before the Wallace was to be held, you’d be foolish to turn an operation down once your offered one these days. He was supposed to take a bit of a back seat this year. That obviously didn’t happen, he was still heavily involved. We’d been out early to get some of the sections sorted in the Arena and at the Lynch before his op. He was still instrumental in the general organisation, but just couldn’t get out plotting the various groups of sections closer to the event date, like normal. Well done Stu, hope your knee heels well.

Well done to the cutting/marking out team who put in the hours leading up to the event – Mark, Liam, Mick, Todd, Alicia, Dan, Nate, Ben and Ash. The back markers, Neil and Richie, following up behind the last riders. Thank you everyone, fantastic effort as always and lots of positive feedback from the riders, which is always good to hear.

A massive shout out to all of our observers, too many to name here but you are all amazing, thank you so much. And finally, thank you to all of our generous landowners who support us by letting us have access to their land, it is becoming more and more difficult, so we are very grateful to you.

Our next event is our Southern Centre Championship round on 29th March at Seymours Arena.