Harry Molloy: IXS Cup final round - Bellwald, Switzerland

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

IXS Cup final round - Bellwald, Switzerland

At a very last minute decision I went to Switzerland to compete in an international race that is a UCI cat 2 event, in hope to get some points.

After a 15 hour journey missing the Toll roads of France we arrived on the Thursday at lunch time. I walked the course and did all the usual race preparation.

On Friday afternoon we had 3 and a half hours practice and I managed 8 runs! That’s more than you could get in a whole day by a long way at an English round.

Saturday was more practice and I did probably another 6 runs before seeding. The track was pretty simple but very fast and jumpy. The weather had been good before we got there and it was sunny and dry the whole weekend. The course was covered in dust the whole way down.

My seeding run went how I wanted it to go. I took a steady run down and managed to hit all the lines I wanted. I didn't pedal all that much but kept my speed where I needed it most. I came down in 1st and by the time everyone had been down I had a 10 second lead over 2nd place.

Sundays practice went well and I found my limits with a fall. I went up to the start felling confidant and listening to my ipod.

My race run went well but it was a bit steady in some places. I gave it all in the pedaling sections and generally didn’t have any moments where I felt like I was risking anything. I came down in 1st improving on my seeding time by 2 seconds with a 3min 36seconds. I was pleased with this as it was only 6 seconds off of Nick Beer (worlds top 10 rider).

Here are a couple of pics;