After years of coming so close, James finally earns selection to represent Great Britain at the UCI MTB Marathon World Championships in Italy. But with minimal preparation, a brand new bike, and an unexpected bout of illness right before race day, taking on the brutal 90km course with 4,000m of climbing won’t be easy. Can James overcome the odds and get the result he’s dreamed of, or will the course have the final say?
⏱ Timestamps ⏱
00:00 – The Dream of Representing Great Britain
01:20 – A History of Almost Making the Cut
03:19 – How Selection Works & The “Excuse Book”
06:26 – British National Marathon Championship Race
10:51 – Post-Race Breakdown & The Verdict
12:01 – Heading to Italy for the World Championships
13:00 – Pre-Race Illness & Emergency Prep
18:27 – Three Weeks of Emergency Training
19:24 – Race Day: World Championship Call-Up
21:44 – On-Course Updates
22:55 – Post-Race Reaction
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30 Comments
Whats the worst thing that's happened to you mid race? Let the chat know!
Probably a rushed training period over the 3 weeks dropped your immuinity, unlucky for the result but at least you managed to represent GB in the champs, well done 🙂
What a brilliant video, thanks y'all! And great job JP!!!!! You're right we're not 15 and made of rubber anymore, which makes your jurney even better!
amazing video!
Awesome job James! No one would allow you to go anywhere near worlds if you were not one of the best bikers in the world, so „have a little cry, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep going”!
Remember when this channel had standards and employed actual Ex pro’s. I miss the originals. It’s great this guy had a go but was it really worth it for a click bait video and rushed job
Thanks for the video, brilliant stuff!
Cheers 🍻 too you James .Never give up on your dreams . Thank you for taking us along.
Great video. James you did great considering all the issues you faced. big shout out to Charlie for helping you out. He's a natural on camera and needs to be in more videos.
Please google how to pronounce gillet.
OMG! Your best video yet! I really feel the Steve Jones in you with this film. Sorry for the tire strike, we know it happens to the best of us. I really liked this format, it's variety from the norm. Thank you GMBM or this and all your channels.
Give it a another go m8 ! Great vid shame you had such bad luck… well done for turning up and having a go knowing full well you're ill .. I shall look forward to next years vid on when you represent your country again. I wish my FTP was 250 watts neither mind zone 2 😉 Loved the bike and was wanting to try the mescals 2.4 but not so sure now LOL. Your bro is a legend for hleping out and comes across well on camera..
tough break. but race tires with light casings just aren't worth the risk. I was getting cuts just from lightly brushing the sidewall against rocks. never again.
Great to see some racing, and James is definitely the ultimate presenter to deliver the suffering and dedication we want to see 💪🏻❤️
The lighter trail casing tyres are great until competition level stresses do their thing. Did the rim get trashed as well?
Yep. Give it another go James… you’ve got 12 months .
I feel like this would be an amazing weekly series, Road to the champs. Following your training through the next year. Gmbn can you make this happen?
Selection seems a bit random innit? If I understand correctly you had 18th place at the nationals (as your only result this year) and got selected amongst the 6 british riders that gone to the WC based on that result?
There's a new try next year 😉 Do an honest attempt then, not a stressed one like you did this year.
Well done Charlie that was great presenting. Unlucky James, you live and learn. Dont give up youre an amazing rider
🔥 Awesome job, and we already know this is just a start 💪
Feel for you mate, I recently dnf’d at World Duathlon Age group champs and was gutted as spent a lot of time training for it.
You will be back stronger and hearing you want it big time you’ve got it next year
Well done Charlie 🇬🇧. Excellent content
Nothing like a little challenge to drive desire. Great video, actually the fact we had to rely on firsthand accounts rather than footage was a great way to tell the story – @gmbn get Charlie to do the same if theres more racing (next year?!). 💪
Such is life .
Such is mtb racing .
The upside is you now have an official GBR shirt .
Good watch none the less .
Personally, I would absolutely love to see GMBN do a series on XC racing. Get back into XC racing James, and document your journey for GMBN. Id love to see a video on training, race preparation, nutrition, the whole bit. It could be a great series for the channel. Just a thought.
Cheers to Charlie (for carrying the vid) 😂❤
Oh, and well done James 🤦♂️
Well done James and Charlie. Loved watching that. All the best lads.
Thanks for the video
I really felt James' pain in this one, poor lad