Beach racers, gravel and mountain bikes from the UK’s biggest off-road race

By Jack Evans

Published: Tuesday, 28 March 2023 at 12:00 am

---

The Battle on the Beach is held on sand, singletrack, gravel and grass in Pembrey Country Park, South Wales. The UK’s largest off-road race attracts a suitably eclectic selection of riders and bikes. Hill climb, enduro and cyclocross stars duke it out on mountain, gravel and fat bikes.

In terms of tech, anything goes apart from electric bikes and aero bars.

The 45km, three-lap battle takes place on Carmarthenshire’s Cefn Sidan beach. From the start, five kilometres of hard sand thin out the field. The remains of the 100 or so ships wrecked on the beach provide the only obstacles.

The route then takes a technical turn into the sand dunes, sending the racers along single and doubletrack. They ride past and through tunnels, bunkers and defence towers – the remnants of a factory that produced munitions on the land between 1882 and 1963.

Out of 670 finishers, Amira Mellor was the fastest woman in 1 34:12. An average speed of 28.65km/h earned the Ribble Collective rider 60th overall. Richard Jansen won the overall and men’s categories in 1:23:28, averaging 32.34km/h. Representing BikeRadar, Liam Cahill finished 108th overall, while Felix Smith came 348th.

We’ve selected seven of the coolest bikes that graced the sand this year, from a specialist beach-racing frame built with fat tyres to a titanium hardtail mountain bike.

Richard Jansen’s Imming beach racer

Richard Jansen rode his specialist beach-racing steed from Dutch brand Imming to overall victory, beating Tom Couzens by 12 seconds. Jansen’s setup resembles that of another beach-racing expert, Jules de Cock, who pairs a Canyon Exceed MTB frame with a SRAM 1x drivetrain, aero gravel racing cockpit and very wide rims.

Jansen, a former Dutch Beach Racing champion, says his Schwalbe G-One Speed tyres measure 60mm when inflated to just 17psi on the custom rims from Imming.

The Team De Online Drogist rider uses the spacers under the stem to raise his frontal position. In conjunction with a narrow handlebar, he believes this makes him faster.

Felix Smith / Our Media

Jansen fitted the same chain catcher as Wout van Aert rode at Milan-San Remo, while running a 1x drivetrain. He was also on a SRAM single chainring, albeit of a smaller size. His gravel-specific SRAM XPLR eTap AXS drivetrain includes a Quarq power meter and 10-44t cassette.

Despite beach racing’s high pace on the hard sand, the slower dune sections can force riders to dismount and run. Hence why Jansen fitted Shimano SPD pedals to the SRAM Force cranks.

Maddy Nutt’s Ribble Gravel SL

Felix Smith / Our Media

Third-fastest female Maddy Nutt finished 139th overall on her Ribble Gravel SL, a gravel racing bike with frame and fork mounts that enable it to carry gear on bikepacking trips too.

The sparkly blue paintjob is in the colours of her team, the Ribble Collective. Nutt shod the all-road Parcours Ronde wheelset with 700 x 47c Vittoria Terreno Dry tyres.

Felix Smith / Our Media

Nutt swapped the stock handlebar to a flat 38cm-wide bar from Level, Ribble’s component brand. This replicates her road bike position and minimises drag on the fast, open sand. Her Shimano GRX groupset included a 40T single chainring and she used Garmin Rally XC200 pedals to measure her power.

Chris Opie’s Lapierre Prorace 4.9

Felix Smith / Our Media

Now for something burlier. Chris Opie came 87th on his Lapierre Prorace 4.9, the French brand’s hardtail cross-country mountain bike. The alloy frame is specced with 29in wheels wrapped in 29×2.5in Maxxis Ardent tyres set up with inner tubes.

He ran a SRAM SX Eagle 12-speed drivetrain incorporating a single 32T chainring, 11-50t cassette and a Quarq power meter. However, he used Shimano shifters.

Another notable front-end feature was the 120mm Cinelli stem flipped to -17 degrees to make his riding position less upright.  Opie averaged 28km/h, so it may well have helped his aerodynamics.

Dan Evans’ Cannondale SuperSix EVO CX

Felix Smith / Our Media

The two-time former UK national hill climb champion swapped the slopes for the sand, finishing 34th in the Battle on the Beach.

The Cannondale-sponsored rider swapped from the brand’s hardtail cross-country mountain bike, the Cannondale Scalpel, which he has ridden at previous editions.

Felix Smith / Our Media

Although the Welshman has the SuperSix EVO SE gravel bike in his stable, he opted for the SuperSix EVO CX. The cyclocross bike is specced with Hunt Aerodynamicist wheels and a 1x mechanical SRAM Force drivetrain.

He squeezed 700x50mm Continental Terra Hardpack tyres into the frame, for which the maximum recommended width is 700x50mm.

Jess Evans’ Cannondale Scalpel HT Hi-Mod

Felix Smith / Our Media

The five-time Welsh National Hill Climb Champion, Jess Evans, came 263rd overall and third in her vet women’s category. She rode her husband Dan’s Cannondale Scalpel HT Hi-Mod.

The hardtail has a Lefty suspension fork to boost cushioning and 29×2.2in Continental Race King tyres to bolster grip along the slippery singletrack.

Felix Smith / Our Media

The groupset is mainly Shimano Deore XT M8100 components, apart from a 34T HollowGram single chainring.

A Wahoo Elemnt Roam bike computer sits on the swept-back carbon handlebar from Ultimate USE.

Ben Chapman’s Trek Procaliber 9.7

Felix Smith / Our Media

Ben Chapman demonstrated the suitability of hardtail mountain bikes for the Battle on the Beach, with a mid-pack finish on his Trek Procaliber.

The bike is built around a SRAM GX Eagle 12-speed drivetrain with a 32T single chainring, while Shimano MT500 hydraulic disc brakes take care of stopping.

On Bontrager Kovee Elite carbon 29in wheels, Chapman installed Pirelli Scorpion tyres. Sadly, the ESI bar grips on the 72cm-wide Bontrager handlebar were scuffed in a crash.

Andy Patterson’s Kingdom Vendetta X2

Felix Smith / Our Media

Andy Patterson did not finish, but his titanium Kingdom Vendetta placed highly in the Battle on the Beach beauty contest.

Look closely and you’ll see the welds have an iridescent hue. This complements the blue Hope headset and seatpost clamps, pedals and Race Face chainring.

Felix Smith / Our Media

A Wolf Tooth strap on the underside of the down tube holds a spare inner tube, while a mini pump attaches to a seatstay.

Patterson replaced the 150mm-travel suspension fork he uses for bike park visits with a rigid fork for the race.

 

---