Photo copyright of Laurence Crossman-Emms
Where Cromwell’s
followers threw down the Pillar of Eliseg riders converged to throw down their
gauntlets on one of the steepest downhill courses in Europe. Spoken by many of the seasoned pros as being
steeper and more technical than the World Cup course in Champery, the plethora
of photography and action videos that soon followed were simply not doing this
venue any justice, you had to be a participant.
Come the end of the
first practise day several riders had given up, packed away their belongings
and headed home, defeated before even the racing got under way, I was not one
of them, this was my debut race for The Development Racing Team and I was armed
with my new FTW Industries bike, Si Paton had set the ultimate challenge simply
to survive and I aimed to!
The whole course was
unbelievably steep, the top wooded section was a full-on technical onslaught where
even the pros were being cautious. I
took it easy on my first few runs, getting to grips with not just the course
but my new bike’s characteristics, needless to say it was railing.
Photo copyright of Sarah Barrett
The weather on
Saturday wasn’t too good with torrential downpours, however the track dried out
pretty damn quickly due to it’s gradient.
No real hard spills on Saturday, sure I had a few offs as did most but
no damage, all in I was feeling good.
Come Sunday the
weather had changed for the better, it was kinda crazy how much the track had
changed though, the rain the previous day had helped smooth some parts out
somewhat in other sections it had exposed some nice big greasy roots to
separate the men from the boys!
Mr Sunshine soon popped
out and the seeding got under way, I was feeling confident, hit all my lines
and crossed the line in second place.
Seeding Results
Soon I was back in
the start gate ready for my race run, after that beep I hit the top section
hard suddenly realising how much the course had changed from earlier in the
day, it was crazy! Spectators were
congregating where the biggest spills were happening and I didn’t let them down
taking a few tumbles, gutted! But hey,
at least I got cheered! Once out of the
woods I absolutely railed the lower open sections, that bike of mine is a
beast! Crossed the line in 11th
place and I’m very happy with that considering.
Photo copyright of Isac Paddick
It was a fantastic
weekend, some good laughs with my mates and my hat is off to Si Paton for
putting this course together, it’s certainly proved controversial. Next up is the National Championships at
Innerleithen, see you all there.
Tom.
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