The Tasmanian Trials community can be well proud of thier efforts to host this years ATC (Australian Trials Championships). The section setters had done mega work to prepare 15 x different sections for the riders to tackle on both days. The field of 130 plus riders was split into 2 x groups at the start of day 1, half doing the red group of 15 and the other half doing the yellow group of 15. This meant for day 2 that we all got to ride new sections as the groups simply swapped to the other sections not done on day 1. This did require 30 plus section observers per day to score both groups of 15 x sections. Thanks to this simple plan, there was plenty of time for all riders to complete the Trial without having to wait in line to attempt sections. The unique rocky terrain of Mt Joy provided a great mix of obstacles to test the riders in thier respective classes, if you could stay bang on line, cleaning everything was possible. Well done to Kurt Pickering and team for making it a reality. The weather was kind to us all thankfully making it comfortable for the riders and thier followers.
Victorian Championships, Mt Bolton- the experience of Dean Nuttall and his crew showed in the thoughtfull layout of the sections. Providing challenging sections for all riders that are not too dangerous is a hard balance to achieve. As always, many thanks to the scorers/observers who stood out there on the side of Mt Bolton for 2 x days, amongst the beautiful Granite rocks.
New South Wales Championships, Pacific Park- I must say here that these were the hardest sections I have ever seen in Australia for our expert riders. Kyle Middleton took it all in his stride and appeared to make easy work of it. All the other grades were set appropriately making for many smiling Trials riders. The only water in the sections here was a result of the helicopters dropping water on the bush fire next to our sections. Martin O'Connor had one such torrent of helicopter water nearly knock him off his bike whist in a section.
Queensland Championships, Thunderbird Park- The heavens opened up and dumped rain on the course the day before the event and on both days. This turned the slippery creek sections into muddy slippery creek sections. The riders seemed to be inspired by the conditions and got on with the job. The riders with UK accents had a glimmer in thier eyes, something like the home land perhaps, only in sub-tropical rain forest. Sadly, this is the last Trial event to be at this venue which hosted ATC in 1999 and 2010.
I got to see first hand the levels of riding in all 4 of these events this year, the repective levels of difficulty are very similar from State to State. I would rate NSW levels of Expert and A grade (T1, T2) as the hardest in our nation, thanks mainly to Pacific Park's availability to the local riders for Trials training.
Image is of Logan River's smiling club members, like Trials riders from all around the globe.
Richard Kent