2010 National Championships, Ae Forest

Elliot was the sole representative for The Squadron at The British Championships held at Ae Forest in Dumfriesshire. What a contrast to the dust bowl that was Llangollen! It rained for virtually the whole weekend. It was that super fine Scottish drizzle that somehow manages to soak you more than “normal rain”! Whatever, it was the same for everybody, and in fact it turned out to be a real test of bike control. The track wasn’t particularly steep but its combination of off camber roots, tight turns and fast berms demanded total concentration from the riders – and a good set of spikes!

Elliot was in The Championship Race – this is basically the Elites and Experts combined. 72 riders started this event. The format is pretty much the same as a BDS race. Riders do one seeding run and one race run. On this occasion several of the top Elites didn’t bother doing a seeding run – most likely through a fear of personal damage!! Conditions really were that bad. Elliot recorded a 2:34.7 in his seeding run, despite having a couple of very close shaves. Priority one was just staying on the bike – a fall was likely to cost you at least 10 seconds.

Come Elliot’s race run the track had deteriorated even more. Despite this Elliot had decided it was a “now or never situation”. He pulled out all the stops and recorded a very quick 2:35.51. This was one of those strange racing situations where even though Elliot had gone a fraction slower he felt as though he’d actually gone faster!! His time was good enough for 30th place in the main event. However, when the riders were separated into their respective classes it transpired that Elliot was the 6th placed Expert! – a great effort. 

The British Championship race really is the race of the year if you’re after points for a national ranking. 16th place at this event was the equivalent of winning a BDS race! As it is Elliot’s scooped 90 points – result.