Rory and Ruan Competition

–

Youth European MTB Champs

riders in the way. We both had solid laps with no major issues, leaving us on the same start row for Saturday’s XCO. Before this though, we had two rest days. We went to the race venue on both these days, getting in more practice laps and spending time with all the other British riders at the race.

The XCO start was chaos, with a start grid nearly thirty rows deep, but we made it through, and were right beside each other through the first singletrack. Things were just starting to settle down when Ruan had a small crash, which in such a congested

Junior Start At The Crit Champs

course was tricky to get back up from without being hit by other riders. Rory was eventually pulled from the race with two laps to go, after struggling and having to stop with cramp. Ruan managed to keep moving through the field to finish all four laps without being pulled. We finished 73rd and 122nd out of nearly 150 riders in the end and came away from the week with an amazing new experience under our belts. We are so grateful for the opportunity, which wouldn’t have been possible without help from our parents, and sponsors which included West Lothian Clarion.