The trial started at 10.30 with the first riders through section 8 at 11.00, the section wasn’t easy by any NKTC standards and all 3 route’s had riders tap dancing there way through most parts of the section. I’m very competitive when it comes to trials riding and my competitiveness has a tendency to rub off when asked, “has anyone cleaned this section?” My reply to this type of question is “I cleaned your route using first gear just off tick-over” which incidentally on the red and blue routes I did, but the expert white route I lost one mark on a really tricky turning climb exiting out of the stream. The start gates to the section were located in a stream just forward from a fallen tree spanning both sides of the streams banks requiring riders to duck when passing under it. The Intermediate’s, Expert B’s, Youth A’s and Expert’s all had to contend with a 'Bob the Builder' garden rockery feature even the likes of Alan Titchmarsh would have been proud of some five feet forward from the fallen tree and only another further two feet on from the start gates, when a rider had clambered over this feature he would then have a short climb up a bank and around a tree stump slithering back down in to the stream, briefly exiting the stream again with the expert’s veering off to the right around a tree and all four route’s joining back up to entry the stream at the same point. The entry point to the stream required your backside to be glued to your rear mudguard, no front brake and most definitely missing the rocks at the bottom “ouch”. This did cause quite a few worried looking riders to hang around the section for some time but no rider had any major problems with the drop. Moving along the section the blue and white route riders exited the stream to the left with a 5+ foot steep climb turning right on top of the bank and dropping back in to the stream, this time the whites had that really tricky turning climb out of the stream and only two expert’s cleaned it. The blue route riders turned left at this point for a straight run at the exit gates. The expert’s if they made the tricky turn had another loop around a tree and picked up the blue route exit line. I havn’t said much about the red route because they stayed in the stream all of the time and had a straight run through trying only to miss the large flint rocks.

At about 12 noon the section must have had half of the whole events riders milling around discussing lines and angles through the gates. Jan and I decided to have a private vote on who will be the best ‘clean’ on each route, as follows: The Best the red route rider ridden by Pre 67’s, Twin Shock, Youth B’s and Novice’s went to Monte Bryant riding a Gas Gas Pro. The best blue route rider ridden by Youth A’s, Intermediates and Expert B’s went to Andy Piece on a Beta 250 and the best white route rider was the man himself Richard Ely aboard a Gas Gas 280 Pro.