Robin Horsfield has set his sights on clinching an eighth title in the Winners Edge Mountain Bike Cross Country National Championships.

The Canadian-based rider will be the centre of attraction when he takes to the course at Ferry Reach, St George’s, tomorrow.

Horsfield has been a dominant force on off-road terrain. His winning run started in 2018, with his success interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. That year, he was unable to travel to Bermuda, which allowed Brian Steinhoff to claim the honours.

Last year at Southlands Park, the 26-year-old completed the course in 1hr 2min 20sec to beat Conor White (1:08:37) by more than six minutes with Che’Quan Richardson in third (1:19.10).

After having a feel of the course at Ferry Reach on Thursday, Horsfield declared himself ready for his title defence.

“Over the past few years, we’ve raced at Southlands, so I’m looking forward to racing a different course out at Ferry Reach,” Horsfield told The Royal Gazette.

“This has been a course that I haven’t raced in many years. I went out there on Thursday to do some riding, just to test out the trails of a new course. I’m happy to race out there and see if I can defend the title.”

With White racing overseas, Horsfield expects Richardson and other local riders to provide him with competition.

“It’s usually typically a strong crowd that shows up for all the local racers,” the champion said.

“It’s great to see them all because I’m not on island too often, so it’s nice to catch up with the local riders and see how everyone’s doing.

“I’m looking forward to seeing where everyone’s fitness is at and seeing where my own fitness is at. Unfortunately, Conor won’t be there as he’s got a race in England, but Che’Quan’s very strong rider and so I expect that he’ll be fit again this year.

“There’s usually quite a number of guys that’ll show up, usually Fat Tyre Massive Series is a great lead-into this race, it sort of works out well.

With Gabriella Arnold not coming home to defend her title, Panzy Olander, the 2024 champion, is back after skipping the race last year to focus on becoming a mother.

“I’m looking forward to racing as I had to miss it last year because I was about to have my son,” Olander said.

“It’s been a challenging road back to fitness, but I am definitely looking forward to racing again.”

Charlotte Millington is having a go at a senior race for the first time. The 18-year-old is gearing to compete on an unfamiliar course.

“I’m really excited to race on Sunday,” Millington said.

“It’ll be my first nationals as a senior, so I’m ready to see how the work I’ve done over the winter period is going prove itself in a race setting.

“I’ve never raced nationals at Ferry Reach, but I’m just ready to go out and have a great race.”

In the junior male, Jackson Langley is aiming to build on his success from the Fat Tire Massive, where he was the series winner. He goes into the race without his biggest challenger, Dylan Eiselt, who off the island, leaving the likes of Lucas Bule, Jonah MacGuinness and Jens Drea to give Langley competition.

“I’m looking forward to the race, but Dylan is travelling so it will be like a bit of a small field in my age group,” Langley said.

“Ferry Reach is a great course because it has like a little bit of everything. It has like some technical bits, some flat bits, some climbing, I grew up learning how to ride a bike down there, so it’s a course that’s very close to my heart as well.

“I enjoyed the Fat Tyre Massive, it was good this year because it was my last year before going to university.

“I put some hard work in and ended up coming out with the overall win, so I was pretty happy with it.”

While balancing between sport and education, Langley has not done any extraordinary training ahead of tomorrow.

“I’ve just been doing like my normal training,” the 17-year-old said.

“I haven’t necessarily done specific. Right now I’m prioritising studying because it’s last year of high school and I’m coming up to exam season, so it’s like I’m in a bit of a tricky position right now trying to balance the two.

“The course is the same, but we’re at different time. We race at a different time and my race is only 30 minutes while the seniors race for 45 minutes or an hour.

“Because ours is shorter, I think it makes for more entertaining racing because it’s all-out for 30 minutes.”