UCI World Cup - Antwerp
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This weekend was the UCI Trials world cup in Antwerp, Belgium. I started the semi-finals on Saturday in good form and I feel I rode well. There were great crowds and a great atmosphere. The organisers did well at making the event not just a trials competition but a social event too with a great atmosphere. Although I rode well, a mistake in the first lap put me back and with the sections being a little on the easy side, one mistake was one too many. I place 12th, with the same points as 11th and 10th place and just four points away from the final. This brings my ranking down to 8th overall in the UCI elite. Click here to see the official world rankings and here to see the results from the Antwerp.
Rick Koekoek had a fantastic ride to 3rd place in the 20” elite and that puts him ni 3rd place in the overall rankings at this point in the season. Also Janine Jungfels, the Australian that is travelling with us for the summer, had a fantastic ride to finish in 2nd, with the same points as first place and missing the top spot by the narrowest of margins!
Today I have travelled to Holland, on route to Antwerp for the next round of the UCI Trials World Cup. Fingers crossed for a top result!
Bideford, North Devon, has been hosting the 2011 Atlantic Water Sports Games. On Monday night it was our turn to entertain the crowds from across Europe. We set our rig up in front of the main stage where they had various bands on through the evening. Before we did our bit though, they had the rather famous Merlin (from Britain’s Got Talent!). He did a fantastic act that everybody loved, always good to work with great entertainers like Merlin Codagon. But that night we had a special guest, former British 20” Champion, Matthew Burge. Although Matt hasn’t been riding competitively for the last two years, he hasn’t lost his touch and gave the audience a great show.
On Sunday, Tim Wills and myself made the trip over to Ashdown Leisure Centre in Poole for the Festival of Sport. The event was a launch event for the Olympic games and encouraged people to take part in numerous sports. We were on hand doing trials shows and have a go sessions. We set up a skills track to test the riders speed, agility and bike control with awesome results. It proved very popular and he had a constant stream of competitors all day long. The winner in the under 13 category was Lennon Hardingway with an impressive lap time of 20.2 seconds. With 18.4 seconds, Josh Arnold was the winner of the over 13 category. Well done guys and thanks to everyone for taking part!
NDA (New Devon Army) is a group of guys that have got together and decided to put smething back into the county they grew up in and love. So ontop of producing some awesome t-shirts, hoodies and cow stickers(!), they also organised a great festival in a beautiful location deep in the Devon countryside. Tim Wills and myself rode the shows, skillfully helped out with the two lovely ABEvents girls - Lauren and Becks. We had some gerat shows and the sun was beaming down for an evening of great music and lots of beers! - not for us of course!
Saturday saw Kie Willis and myself travel to Clark’s Village in Street, Somerset to perform shows for Andrei’s Long Term Sponsors Saltrock Clothing. The day started out with heavy rain while we were setting up the rig and our spirits were low for a good day of shows. But late morning saw the rain stop and slowly the rig started to dry. By mid day we were ready to Kick off the first show of the day and drew a huge crowd over. There was loads of promotion on offer from the guys at the Saltrock outlet store, from free necklaces to discount vouchers on everything in store. We took a bit of footage from inside the store, so watch this space for a little video! Big thanks to the guys from Saltrock for helping on the day and looking forward to catching up with you next time. Anyone in the area go and check out the store…. its awesome!
On the 14th July Andrei Performed some demonstrations for the Lincolnshire School Games held in Grantham. The event was run like a mini-olympics and was a great success. They had over 800 kids competing in various sports from high-jump to hockey. The opening ceremony saw the likes of World record holder and Olypmic Gold Medalist Jonathan Edwards kick off the day and a team of 6 parachutists drop into the main arena and land in olympic rings laid out on the floor. Just befor ethe first show Jonathan Edwards asked Andrei for a few tips on how to track stand. All in all it was a great day and the weather made it fantastic too. It was really great to see such enthusiastic and energetic kids. A great start for the build up to the 2012 London Olympics.
This weekend Rick Koekoek and myself rode the International trial in La Puy-en-Valey in France. The competition was set right in the beautiful city centre. We had a great time there outside of the competition. Kenny Beleay, Hannes Herrmann, Rick and myself spent the week training in La Plagne, Before heading to Puy-en-Valey on friday afternoon. They help a speed trial on Saturday evening, which was great fun, but I had a a mistake on the first step, which left Vincent Hermance to take the lead. Finally the speed trial was Won by Gille Coustellier. After some rather heavy rain in the morning, the trial started at 12 and the sections were slowly drying up. There were three sections located in an arena and three sections through the city centre. The team from Trial Club Crampons di a fantastic job of building some great looking sections. Hannes Placed 8th, myself 7th, Rick 6th and Kenny was on the podium with 3rd place. Great weekend.
This weekend I have been competing in the 2nd round of the trials world cup. It was held in ValD’Isere, france, usually known as a ski resort in the winter, in the summer it becomes a mountain bike mecca. At the same event there was also the downhill, cross-country and 4cross french cups. Despite my fractured ankle I managed to place 10th. I feel this was a great result considering the injury. But it was a great event with great sections. I am now looking forward to the competition this weekend in Le Puy-en-Valey. Rick had a great ride to 7th place and Janine again just missed out on the podium to finish 4th. Now i will train with Hannes Herman from Germany and Kenny Beleay for the week in La Plagne, in the French Alps.