Darren Atkins of Team Enable MI Racing was WMCCL Champion and WM Regional Champion in the V55-59 category. He also finished third overall in the V50+ standings. He was never out of the top three in that race and won it three times. Tim Barnes was second V55-59 and Leon Field third.
Darren was also the driving force behind the Steve Knight Memorial Trophy, which was awarded for the first time in 2024. He talks about the fact that Steve is still an inspiration to him in this – his report on the season.
“I started riding cyclocross at the age of 16 in 1985 , have ridden every winter since then and I still have not got bored with it , or maybe I’m just not satisfied. Either way I love being able to compete and see my friends almost every weekend within an hour of home, we are so lucky to have such a great league, and I would like to thank all organisers and volunteers for making this possible.
The past few years I have had my teammate Nick Whitley to make the racing hard for me and this year Crispin Doyle was added to the mix – meaning that to win any event was going to be a challenge. In the end my season was cut short when I had to have minor operation to remove a cyst from an area a bit sensitive to cycling, but before that I managed three wins.
The Solihull event at the Heart of England conference centre was the win I enjoyed the most, I had been to visit Steve Knight’s parents the day before and we had been looking at old photos of Steve racing, no doubt I was inspired to push myself a bit harder the following day at Meriden and after a proper race long battle with Nick Whitley I managed to get across the line first! Winning isn’t always what makes you happy, you have to feel like you did a good job, made a good effort and didn’t make too many mistakes. That day I was happy.”
