Dragon-1-Cwmcarn 5-6 April;

- Mojo have helped make this place what it is today and were the main sponsors of the race

We arrived at around midnight at the Cwmcarn centre Friday night. Although it was hard to see at this late, it seemed to be dry with a clear sky. I didn’t sleep great as it was a bit cramp in the back of the van; only due to us not being bothered to sort it out that late at night.

Saturday morning took a slow start and we got up to walk the course around half 7. It was a clear day and the sun began to show some heat as I walked the course with Ross Hammond and my Dad. The course was pretty much the same as I have ridden before. This time the main difference was that the trees were fallen at the very top of the course. This made the top totally unrecognisable to me. Strange how a few trees make such a difference.

I took 4 practise runs in the morning, then my seeding run. My seeding run wasn’t bad. I took an easy run down as I knew there were more lines to take a look at. At the very bottom the timing lasers were around what I thought was the walk through part. However, it wasn’t until a few people shouted at me, I thought to pedal to the end around a 180 degree corner. I was 3 seconds off of 1st place lying in 4th place. It was then I realised that no-one really knew that the finish was around an extra corner and resulted in most people messing up there times.

After that I took my bike up to the top to find some lines in sections that I struggled with through the day. This really helped as I came up with around 5 more lines and extra confidence on the course.

After this we went to the pizza place to get some dinner and play a couple games of pool. I have to input the fact I did beat both my dad and Ross.

We then went to a holiday inn around 5 miles away from the venue for the night. We got up to have an early breakfast at 6:30 then it was time to get back to Cwncarn for practise at 8am. Ross and I were amongst some of the first riders up.

We took 3 runs down in the morning. I had a fall in my 3rd run and hurt my shoulder and finger. I tried jumping over two corners of the course but landed on the second corners boundary which was set by some pretty spiky rocks. However, I did my new lines and was pretty confident about race runs.

My first race run went well and I got down comfortably. I was sat in 2nd place with a 3mins 4seconds. Ross Hammond was only 2 milliseconds behind in 3rd place. Nathan Vials was of course in 1st some 4 seconds ahead.

My final run was 3 seconds faster with a 3mins 1second. This put me in 3rd place 2 milliseconds behind Rob Williams. Nathan Vials went faster again and got a 2mins 58seconds... 3 seconds ahead.
- The Junior podium

It was bone dry for both of our runs. Looking at the expert times I would have won the category and I would have came 3rd in the elites. I came 5th overall out of nearly 300 riders.

- The Elite podium

Thanks to DMR, Rezurgence, Lifestyle Ford, Mojo, Funn, Mace, Geax and Nike 6.

-My new mace helmit!