Our Baa 2 Day Trial is complete! The weather was kinder than we thought so observers and riders did not get soaked and everyone had an enjoyable weekend.
It was the second running of our 2-day trial for modern bikes. We stepped up a gear with a larger than usual expert entry, including John Crinson and Tom Affleck. We also had more riders on the green route and a more even balance of riders on the clubman and easy routes. For the 8 riders on the conducted course, it was their first experience of a 2-day event!
The conducted trial had 6 great sections to tackle each day over grass mounds and rocks. There was plenty of concentration on the faces of the youngsters and they are definitely future riders to look out for.
Arthur Henderson won the medium route on Saturday dropping 10 but the scores were tighter on Sunday as Eddie Charlton was only 2 marks behind. The easy route saw Jessica Findlay and Ed Henderson both finish on 14 on Saturday but Ed Henderson managed to take the win on Sunday dropping only 6.
Photos of the conducted riders are on the website: https://www.castlesidetrialsclub.com/baa-2-day-conducted-gallery-2021
The main trial had an entry that was 130 strong with riders from Scotland, Yorkshire, Cumbria and the West Midlands.
Saturday saw three new sections. Section 2, with a pile of sharp looking rocks, saw riders taking their time to study their line; wishing they were a mountain goat. It was catching out some of the clubman riders but those that did well were flying over the tricky part. Photos: https://www.castlesidetrialsclub.com/baa2day-section2-2021
Section 3 was just horrible with a tangle of tree roots for the clubman, green and hard route riders. Even I found a hole by that tree that nearly swallowed me! Photos: https://www.castlesidetrialsclub.com/baa-2-day-saturday-section3-g
Section 4 was straight forward enough but a greasy bank was causing traction issues for the hard course riders. Photos: https://www.castlesidetrialsclub.com/baa-2-day-saturday-section4-g
Section 9 was a long technical section which managed to take a few marks on all routes. Photos: https://www.castlesidetrialsclub.com/baa-2-day-saturday-section9-g
The leaders at the end of Saturday were; John Crinson (hard route), James Black (green route), Gary Younghusband (clubman route) and Eric McMeekin (easy route).
Sunday was the main event with two laps of twenty sections over eleven miles of moorland. The riders had a mixture of sections to tackle with gullies, rocky outcrops and rivers. Section four was new and entertaining to watch. It saw the easy and clubman riders tackling a slippery grassy bank and the green and hard route riders were using speed to tackle the turn and reach the end of the section. The different facial expressions of the riders are just brilliant! Photos: https://www.castlesidetrialsclub.com/baa-2-day-sunday-section4-g
Overall results for the weekend.
Hard route: Tom Affleck (33), Dale Robson (62), Jamie Stephenson (119).
Green route: Gary Pears (46), James Black (48), Joe McMeekin (55).
Clubman route: Gary Younghusband (46), Eddie Aitkin (54), Joe Wray (91).
Easy route: Eric McMeekin (15), Ossy Byers (18), Andrew Dale (22)
Unfortunately, over the weekend there were a couple of injuries. Sam Quinn broke his arm on the Saturday and Richie Matthews broke his leg and ankle on the Sunday. We wish them both a speedy recovery and hope to see them on a bike again soon.
Full results and photos are on the Castleside website. https://www.castlesidetrialsclub.com/
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