Since we had been up there for the BDS race the track had had some upgrades, which is part of a 2year make-over planned to update the track. It looks like they had some big machinery up the hill because all the top layer of gravel had been scrapped down to bedrock which was a lot more predictable and had the added bonus of not changing or getting braking bumps!

After signing on Thursday CP, Ash and I set up the pits and headed up the track to check out lines. Seeing as Ash had made an effort to put on his walking boots, and me and CP had gone fashion with our Vans and Five ten's we didn't really expect Ash to fall first. But he did and it made us laugh :)

First day of practice I headed up the track early and did quite a few runs before going up and watching the pro's come down in the dedicated top 80men and 20women practice (Ash didn't fall this time!)

Saturday morning my plan was to get 2 full runs in before qualifying, which didn't happen as I got a puncture coming out of the woods and had to run down the motoway. Run 2 was better and me and the bike got down in one piece. As it was my first world cup I started mid pack in qualifying. I made quite a few mistakes and ended up 19th, which was only just enough to get me into the finals. Id never qualified before so I was chuffed! So instead of watching the 4x which is usually my saturday night plans at world cups I went back to our cabin and ate and slept!

My race run went well and I didn't have any moments, although thinking about it I could have done certain bits better but I finished 19th overall and am happy with that!

Thanks to CP and Ash for all the support at the weekend!

Aimee

Pictures by Ian Linton @ www.ianlinton.com