'I woke up the next day and cried within the first five minutes' - Meet British cyclo-cross champion Xan Crees

Xan Crees is the British national cyclo-cross champion for 2025. Riding for Spectra Racing p/b DAS, she has competed in some of the top cyclo-cross events in the world. Crees is also a former British gravel champion.

This is part of our Q&A series, where we ask some familiar faces some big and small questions.

How did you get into cycling?

I was one of those who was inspired by the London 2012 Olympics. I did lots of different sports – I did netball, swimming and mixed martial arts – but hadn't really found my sport yet. I saw the Olympics and joined my local club, Derby Mercury, and they always pushed cyclo-cross, because it's really accessible.

Originally I thought actually the road was for me. I did a road season, and then I did a 'cross season, and I just fell in love with it.

What first appealed to you about cyclo-cross?

The very first thing that brought me into cyclo-cross was the community sense. I probably didn't realise it as a 13-year-old that it was the community, but it was the fact that I was out there riding with my friends, everyone was friendly, all the parents were cheering on everyone. You felt supported as a rider that people were willing you to do well.

The cyclo-cross race every weekend was a bit of a social. It was a chance to go see my friends and talk to people, as well as have a bike race.

Do you remember your first ever race?

My actual first ever race was a Go-Ride race. I think the course was probably 300m, if that. It was probably about a 10-minute bike race.

My first ever cyclo-cross race was a Notts Derby round, and I remember it quite well. I ended up in third, but with fourth place very close behind, and I dropped my chain coming up to the line. Even though I'd only just started cyclo-cross and hadn't had much practice, I just grabbed the bike and ran to the finish line. When I think back to that, I think maybe I was always naturally going to come and do this, because I had some kind of cyclo-cross instinct.

You won your first elite national cyclo-cross title last weekend. Has it sunk in now?

It's still quite surreal, to be honest. I think everyone saw on the day how emotional it was, and that kind of carried on. I woke up the next day in Belgium to do a race, and I was pretty much crying within the first five minutes of waking up again. Everyone racing at a high level always dreams of having a National Championship title, and it's just come at a point in my career where I probably wasn't expecting it. It just is absolutely insane.

Tell us a bit about your bike set-up for the British National Cyclo-cross Championships.

I was riding a Pearson On and On, which is actually a gravel bike, but it has proven itself time and time again in 'cross races that it can meet those demands. I was on the Schwalbe X-One Bite tyres, which are pretty much the grippiest, muddiest tyres you could ever imagine. Honestly, they were perfect. Having a tyre that grippy gives you so much confidence. I knew when it was icy that I was going to be running that tyre.

I also had a 1x set-up on my bike, because I prefer it in a 'cross race, and also a chain guard, because chain drops are an absolute nightmare, especially in a muddy race like that.

We had the Ere Research Omnia wheels, which are actually road wheels, but again, they've absolutely held up in terms of being on a 'cross bike as well. Everyone's looking for speed.

You previously won the British National Gravel Championships in 2023. Was that a discipline you knew well?

Funnily, when I started doing gravel, I was actually planning to do mountain biking that year, but unfortunately we were struggling to find a mountain bike in my size that I could be competitive on [ed. Crees is 5'3"].

I wanted to do something other than just road racing that year, so I took a gravel bike, did my first UCI Gravel Series and finished fourth overall, third in my category. I did another race in Sweden, and then went into the Gravel National Championships having only done three races. I found myself quite at home with the transfer from 'cross, and it all pretty much came together on the day.

Who was your cycling hero growing up?

The main one for me was always Marianne Vos, because she was so spectacularly good at everything she did. She has titles in pretty much every cycling discipline now.

The other one was Mark Cavendish. Obviously being British, he was one of those you actually got to watch on TV, particularly when I was younger. We didn't get to see that much women's racing on TV, so he was one of those ones that you got to see constantly.

What's the best piece of advice that you've received in your career?

I had a friend who was a vet[eran] racer and was incredibly good on a bike, but I saw him at a race once and he was so nervous. To me, if you were nervous, that meant maybe you were doubting yourself, and he turned around to me and said: "It's ok to be nervous, because if you're nervous, it shows that you want this. If you're not nervous, then you don't care about it enough."

That allowed me to see that if I'm nervous pre-race, it's ok, it's because I want it, and I can still perform well on those nerves.

What do you do alongside racing?

At the moment I'm working three days a week for Hunt Wheels in the customer service and tech team, helping out our customers and our riders. We joked in the office that I should change my email tag line at the bottom and add British national cyclo-cross champion to it.