Final day of Mountain Bike World Cup 2008
June 10, 2008 on 12:21 pm | In Mountain Biking | No Comments
The Downhill day is the biggest day of the week and sees the largest crowds. It’s a spectacular event and saw 30 ladies and 187 men compete for a chance to get to the final.
The downhill course at Fort William is known as a monster and even the fittest riders have to work really hard. It’s a total distance of 2.82km with a start altitude of 655m. The track is much the same as it was for the World Championships last year.
Laura and I took a ride up int he gondola to see the start (I like hills but this is one big hill)! It’s amazing seeing the speed that these riders travel at, at some point I had to close my eyes as it look pretty extreme to me.
The crowds were worked up by the commentator who made a fantastic job of keeping everyone informed. They all had their cow bells and horns to create an amazing atmosphere in the arena - it really made your hairs stand on end.
The ladies event was fantastic with British riders including Rachel Atherton, Katy Curd and Tracy Moseley. National Champion Tracy was last to ride and by now the arena was at fever pitch, everyone was watching the screen to compare her times to the current leader. When she eventually came in her time was an amazing 5:20 which saw her take the podium in first place.
In the men’s event the riders everyone was watching out for were Scotsmen Ruaridh Cunningham, Joe Barnes and Ben Cathro. British riders also included Gee and Dan Atherton and Steve Peat.
The talent was amazing and the crowds really made the event. Steve Peat was in the leader position but was narrowly pipped by Gee Atherton. It was really tense to see whether GB could make it 1st and 2nd. It wasn’t meant to be and Greg Minaar finally took the winning position.
This was the first Mountain Bike event I have attended. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone. A tip I would give is to invest in some Avon Skin so Soft to keep the midges at bay!
Gillian Thompson
http://www.visitscotland.com/adventure
Works with adventure sports in Scotland and has a keen interest in hill walking and a new passion for surfing.
Day Two at the Mountain Bike World Cup 2008
June 10, 2008 on 12:02 pm | In Mountain Biking | No Comments
Woke up to a bright sunny morning and headed over to the site. Today was the Cross Country and the crowds were starting to form early on.
In a break from his normal way of taking the course Steve Peat was caught walking the downhill track and crossing the finishing line with his dog!
The cross country course is 25 miles and the heat in Leanachan Forest was around 21 celcius. The mens race consists of five laps and the ladies of four laps of the track which includes berms, single track climbing and fast jumping.
The ladies race was won by Canadian Marie Helene Premont and the mens race by Florian Vogel in 2:06!
Gillian Thompson
http://www.visitscotland.com/adventure
Works with adventure sports in Scotland and has a keen interest in hill walking and a new passion for surfing.
First day of the Mountain Bike World Cup 2008
June 7, 2008 on 12:26 pm | In Mountain Biking | 1 Comment
We headed up to Fort William on Wednesday to get ready for the 7th Mountain Bike World Cup to be held in the area. With the stand ready and looking gorgeous the first day of the MBWC saw fantastic sushine, enthusiastic crowds and a suberb 4 Cross event.
The day started looking overcast but cleared up and not a hint of rain was seen. In fact the course had to be sprayed with water as it was so dry! It was a relatively steady day with lots of people coming along to try out the trials area run by Cycle Wild Scotland.
At lunchtime I took a trip in the gondola to see the downhill track from the top. The journey up was amazing with some stunning scenery, I would recommend a trip up to take in the views of the area. The event today was the 4 Cross (4X) with the final being held at 19:30. By this time there was quite a crowd forming and the cow bells cetainly added to the atmospere.
It was an exciting race with some big names going out early on. There was also a spectacuar crash between Johannes Fischbach and Cedric Garcia. The finals were eventually won by Jared Graves (Australia) and Jana Horakova (Czech Republic). Fionn Griffiths was the highest placed home rider in the ladies event, coming 9th.
Gillian Thompson
http://www.visitscotland.com/adventure
Works with adventure sports in Scotland and has a keen interest in hill walking and a new passion for surfing.
