Mountain Biking Schools Nationals -The Downhill

With a later start and warmer weather the day was looking good from the start. At the briefing I finally met Wellington rider, Jonti Cullen, she was great to talk to- and now I actually know more than two Wellington MTB girls.

With 2 practice runs, a seeding run and then a race run there was plenty of time to learn the course- although I’d already done 3 runs of it on Friday. The practice runs were a bit of a free for all, but other wise were good fun.  As there were only five girls doing the DH (two in Under 16 and three in Under 20) we all shuttled up to the seeding runs together. It was cool to meet and talk to the other girls that were racing- I don’t really know any mountain biking girls in or outside of Wellington.

It was good as our seeding runs were first we could then watch most of the boys before the shuttle up for the race run. With a rush to the shuttles for a last time, the pre race nerves finally came- although much smaller than normal.

Despite a bad race run- coming off really isn’t ideal- I still managed to win the U16F, which I was pretty stoked about.  I was also super impressed by Jonti- her first MTB race was PNP Club champs, meaning that this was her second race and a huge step up from D grade.

Huge thanks to: Ricky for his descending coaching; Lisa for her goggles and a quick few weeks of coaching to get me a bit sharper for racing; cheers to Ryan for his baggies; thanks to Kim for advice on how to stay in the right mental zone; cheers to the guys at Mud Cycles for their ongoing support and Sponsorship; and of course Mum and Dad, for everything they do- supporting me, travelling across the country, going on the ferry etc.