Newnham Park to host National Cross-Country Championships

PLYMPTON’S Newnham Park will host the 2020 HSBC UK National Cross-Country Championships, British Cycling have confirmed.

The event will take place over the weekend of July 18 and 19.

Newnham Park has a long history of hosting mountain bike racing. In 1984 the venue hosted a World Cup round, while in recent years it has hosted a round of the National Cross-Country MTB Series, plus regional and local competitions.

This year’s UK National Cross-Country Championships will be combined with the Exposure Lights TwentyFour12 Festival to create a nine-day long celebration of mountain biking.

“We are hugely excited to bring the HSBC UK National Cross-Country Championships back to Newnham Park in Plymouth, particularly as 2020 will already be a significant year for the city, as it commemorates 400 years since the sailing of the Mayflower,” said event organiser Matt Williams.

“Newnham Park has long been a classic mountain bike race venue, and for the last 15 years has hosted the Exposure Lights TwentyFour12 mountain bike endurance event. This year, that event falls the weekend after the national championships, and with mountain biking continuing to grow in popularity in the south west, we are looking forward to hosting a fantastic week of mountain biking and other activities for people to enjoy.”

The HSBC UK National Cross-Country Championships and the Exposure Lights TwentyFour12 Festival will complement a summer of cultural and community Mayflower 400 events and exhibitions in Plymouth, which mark the 400th year of the sailing of the iconic ship from the city to its city in Massachusetts, USA.

The South West will have two major races this summer as Fowey’s Woody’s Bike Park will host round four of the HSBC UK National Cross-Country Series on the weekend of June 6-7.