2014 World Cup 1 - South Africa

The first World Cup of the season has come and gone. After a great Australian season I was excited to get back out on the world circuit. The first stop for this season was the venue for World Championships last year, South Africa.

The course had changed quite a lot since Worlds, with the course much more central to the event village, which made it much better for spectators.

As my last year as an U/23 I wanted to have the best possible year and leave nothing unturned. The week leading in was good and it only took a few days to get over the flight and to be happy with the course.

They had changed the way the event ran this year, putting downhill on the
The course had changed quite a lot since Worlds, with the course much more central to the event village, which made it much better for spectators.
As my last year as an U/23 I wanted to have the best possible year and leave nothing unturned. The week leading in was good and it only took a few days to get over the flight and to be happy with the course.

They had changed the way the event ran this year, putting downhill on the Saturday and XC on Sunday. Warming up on Saturday, for me, felt weird and a little wrong but it gave us an extra day of practice out on course.
I woke up early on Sunday keen to get breakfast over and done with and a quick pre-roll to get everything moving. 11am came around really quickly and before I knew it my warm up was done, transponder was on, and I was on the start grid getting the 15-second warning. 

The race was on from the first lap and my start was probably one of my worst. I'm not the greatest starter but starting on the 3rd row and finding myself at the back on the first climb was definitely not ideal. I worked my way back through the field, picking riders off one by one, conscious I needed to keep as much in the bank as possible for the last few laps. I moved up into the top 20 with 2 laps to go. The race was fast and I was really focusing on hitting the lines I had practiced in training. The last lap bell sounded and I was in 15th position with 16th on my wheel, we had been together for a few laps and with 17th only just behind I knew I had to lay everything down on that lap. I almost did it but had a bad line through “playhouse” and had to put a foot down, giving the other riders the perfect time to get a gap. The last few hundred metres of the course were all down hill, making it hard to get back on terms with 15th place. I had 17th on my wheel coming into the last corner and it was going to be a sprint.

I got passed a metre before the line, finishing in 17th position. This was my best finish in a World Cup to date so was happy to come away with yet another personal best. A huge thank you to all my sponsors, your support is what gets me there. Looking forward to Cairns in 2 weeks time for round 2 of the World Cup Series.