This is a two day event, the first day starting off with the XC race and followed in the afternoon with the Tie-breaker race (a mini enduro type race). The second day was the downhill day with the timed run in the afternoon.
Day 1
We arrived at the Regional Park very early because the gates had to be closed by 8am, meaning I had to get some extra sleep in the car on the way out.
The Under 15s were the first ones to race. My little sister Paige was in the under 15 girls and she started off strong holding a nice 3rd place. When she came around into her 2nd lap (of two) she looked great but 4th wasn't to far behind. After 25min Paige came in looking very tired - just beating 4th place by 3 seconds in a sprint finish. Awesome effort.
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| Lil sis in the start |
Now mid morning, the older riders were next. The under 20's went off first, then a 15 min gap were the under 17's (my category) and under 16's.
With about 40-50 people in this group it was a huge mass start. When the start gun went off my plan was to just draft-off someone and save my energy for the last lap. But no one was making a move at all and I could see that everybody were going to tangle at the first sharp corner across the paddock. I knew that if I got caught in the bunch I would be held back, so I burst off. I managed to get a good break but took the corner very badly and got swung right out. However I was still able to keep the pace up and hold second place into the first track.
After that we popped back out onto the grass in the spectator area. I was already hurting but was still with the top six (2-3 were in under 16's).
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| Bursting into corner first |
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| me and some dude popping up at front |
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| The pain at the top of the biggest hill |
Going into the second lap, man was I hurting! I kept getting caught behind a guy who could burst the roads but was slow on the tracks. While that got me annoyed I held my ground.
This stayed the same as we started the 3rd and final lap, and I had not been passed by anyone. About half way through the final lap I finally managed to pass the "annoying" guy. I knew that there was alot of single track until the end (which he would struggle with) meaning I could get a good gap before the last road sprint.
Leaving the road in the last hill climb, about 200meters away from the finish, I came across 4th place and was really happy that I had made time. We stuck together up the hill and turning for the final sprint I thought I would be able to take him on. But I was more wreaked than I thought and just could not sprint. He beat me by 7 seconds. So 5th place (under 17's) in the XC - not bad.
It was a long wait for the tie breaker to start in the afternoon but I needed the rest. While we waited I found out as I was in the top 15 people overall, I would be starting in the first group- no pressure!
At about 1pm the Tie-Breaker started. It took about 10 minutes until my turn to start. I was not worried about this race at all and was very relaxed. It was going to be fun.
The Tie-Breaker is a small race that should only take about 1min 30sec for the top racers and about 3min for the slowest riders. I made sure to get a heap of speed coming off the road start getting into the single track (Kauri Trail) so that I could have good momentum through the track. As I popped out into the grass area where everyone was watching. I hit the first corner of the chicane badly, going in short causing me to swing out wide (like the XC start) and lose some speed. I hit the gas to get into the trail and felt like I was gaining time back. Getting through the finish line I felt pretty good about the sprint, except for that one little stuff up which cost me a few seconds.
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| In action during the TB |
It was a bit of a ride back to the race center and I missed watching quite a few people, so I had no idea how my race compared with other riders. About 1 hour later the results were all in.
At prize giving they only announced the place-getters for each category. I knew that I had missed out on an XC placing but hoped that I might have got somewhere in the Tie-Breaker. When they called the under 17 men, I found out I had got 2nd place, and was only 1 second from being first!
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| Me in the middle With the silver |
Day 2
Day 2 was another early start, but this time we only had one race to worry about - the downhill.
The race rules required full-face helmet, knee and elbow padding. It felt so weird riding in all this gear. Weirder still I was on my XC hardtail - but no worries I knew I could get down the course, just not in a hurry. I really just wanted the points for the overall ranking, a DNF would not help.
After 4hours of pre riding the course they called up the first group to be shuttled up for the timed run.
I to wait nearly 2hours until it was the under 17's turn to shuttle up. As we were going up I wasn't feeling too nervous, just some excitement going through me. At the top it was another long wait until it was my turn to start. One by one, by school, riders would be started 30 seconds apart.
As I got to within 5 people away from starting, I was starting to freak out thinking of crashing, etc but I told myself that I only had to do it once and I didn't have any pressure.
At the starting block, all clipped in and ready to go, the offical started to count down then just screamed go!
I burst off of the starting block with more speed than most of the downhillers I had just watched. The track began with a lot of sharp corners and some very bumpy sections. I handled this without too many problems.
As I approached the half way mark my chain came off! @#%*!!!!!!
I quickly put it back on but then found that I was stuck in one gear. Luckily it was the hardest gear, however this little mechanical had cost me a good 20 seconds (that is alot in DH).
I carried on pumping my way through the track, having a few very close calls, almost crashing as I tried desperately to recover some time.
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| Almost crashed!!!!! |
Anyway, I survived and had fun. While I was annoyed with what happened, I thought I had done pretty well for being on a XC bike.
The next few hours were great fun getting to watch the under 20's come down with a whole lot more speed and style than me. After the racing was finished a few selected riders got to go back up to the top for a demonstration run. They cruised down and and then at the very end hit a couple of huge jumps which was amazing to watch.
At the end of the day was the final prize giving. My little sis ended up taking out 3rd for the DH and Overall for the under 15 girls. Congrats Paigeee
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| Paige in the middle with her 3rd overall certificate |
My mechanical on the downhill had cost me any chance of a top 3 placing overall. That's racing!
After I got home I checked the full results online:
XC-5th TB-2nd DH-20th Overall-5th
What an exhausting but great weekend. It was a really professional set-up - well done to the event organisers.
Thank you to mum and dad for driving us out every morning at 6am for two days.
Thank you to R&R Sport for the great support over the last couple of weeks helping me get a new kit and a huge thanks to Jesse Voza for getting me to where I wanted to be!!!!!!!
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