The 2012 championship saw a total of 37 riders competing across 5 categories; Under 12, Novice, Sport, Elite and Pro. This made it the BIGGEST bicycle trial event in NSW ever, and the biggest in Australia this year - that includes the Nationals!
While there were a lot of usual seasoned NSW riders in the Elite & Pro grades, the Under 12, Novice & Sport classes attracted both moto trials and mountain bike riders. You could find DJ bikes, XC bikes and 29er's, right through to dedicated 20", 24" and 26" trials bikes! It was good to see all types of bike riders testing their skills through 5 varying sections - 2 "arena" type sections containing big tyres, concrete blocks and rocks, 2 bush/rock sections and 1 downhill dry creek bed section.
The difficulty level turned out to be quite adequate, scores being relatively close and no riders finishing on 0 points (the lowest possible), or the maximum of 5 in every section, 75 points.
In the end, the moto riders showed how well their experience translates over to push bikes, claiming most of the podium spots in the Under 12, Novice & Sport classes. This was further extended to even 2nd & 3rd place in the Elite class! However, well-known downhiller, rally driver and creator of the "Trials is Dead" series, Joel Davis, managed to take 1st place in Elite.
Pro class saw Allan Phillipson (Singleton) taking 3rd, while the talented and long-standing Sam Hull (Sydney) placed 2nd. The real surprise of the day was Joel Gleeson (Scone) snatching the top spot… on a unicycle! Being a very, very impressive trials unicyclist, he had already beaten a bagful of trials riders at a speed trial event earlier this year.
A great time was had by everyone, the younger riders all had lots of fun, some having ridden their first ever biketrial event. The large number of spectators also enjoyed the day, clapping and cheering riders through the sections.
Tonnes of prizes had been generously donated by our supporters, which made for large prize bags for podium finishers, along with a heap of bonus prizes for 4th/5th/6th place, mainly in the Under 12 & Novice classes.
This was a big event for biketrials in NSW and hopefully the energy, enthusiasm and momentum of this competition carries through to bigger & better things in future!! You can check out the full results and all the photos on the Biketrial New South Wales page
An event like this does not happen without the help of our observers & volunteers - so I would like to thank everyone who observed; Matt Platts & Sam Hull for helping to set, mark and tidy up the sections the day beforehand; and my fiancé Jess for collecting medals & prize bags, helping with registration and taking all the photos on the day!
Finally, many, many, many thanks has to go to our supporters-
The Bike Shed Mortdale
The Hell Team
ExpressiveBikes
Bike Trials Direct
WSMTB
Pacific Park
All your help has been much appreciated!
-Mitch
Here is just a few pictures, plenty more on the Biketrial NSW page - http://www.facebook.com/biketrialnsw
