This week-end is the annual two dayer at Fort William. This annual event is easily one of the highlights of the UK trials calendar, with not one, but two rounds of the British Trials Cup and a round of the Scottish Trials Championship being held alongside the UCI Downhill and 4X World Cup. This festival of mountain biking is THE event of the season in the UK, with MTB stars from all over the world coming to compete on some of the most challenging terrain that the UK has to offer. In addition to this, eight challenging and interesting trials sections will be set out throughout the site, with four brand new sections in the main arena and four more along the wooded river and hillside, and trials riders from all over the UK and abroad will descend on the Nevis Range to pit themselves against each other and the terrain.
The ever-popular Fort William sections feature a mix of man-made and natural obstacles (logs, concrete pipes, imported rocks, muddy banks and a rocky stream bed), with plenty of huge gaps, daunting drops and tricky, technical passages made all the more difficult by the summer heat and clouds of midges and all of this in front of crowds of spectators, often three deep around the sections!
With the UK’s top Elite riders competing for British Cycling selection points for this year’s World Championship, Jack Carthy fresh from his podium finish in the World Cup and some international Elite riders in attendance, things are sure to be pretty intense in this year’s competition!
Programme of the cycling event of the UK’s trials calendar!
Here is the programme for the trials events at this amazing weekend.
Saturday 9th June - Round 3 of the British Trials Cup and Scottish Biketrial Club Rnd 4
9.00am | Sign on and collect entry pass |
10.15am | Pre-trial briefing - we advise you listen! |
10.30am | Competition starts for all categories, from Primary to World Elite |
3.30pm | Competition ends |
4.00pm | Award presentations on the main stage |
4.30pm | Join in everything that’s going on on-site |
Sunday 10th June - Round 4 of the British Trials Cup and Scottish Biketrial Club Rnd 5
9.00am | Sign on and collect entry pass |
10.15am | Pre-trial briefing - we advise you listen! |
10.30am | Competition starts for all categories, from Primary to World Elite |
3.30pm | Competition ends |
4.00pm | British Champion Award presentations on the big stage |
4.30pm | Join in everything that’s going on on-site |
Details of where to sign on and where to collect your entry pass will be posted on the Biketrial Federation website nearer the date. Please keep checking for any updates.
This year’s British Trials Cup Series is sponsored, as usual, by Onza Bikes as well as new sponsors 3SIXTY and some new sections sponsors for this event, and Tribal Zine will of course be on hand to provide photos and a write-up after the event. Hope to see you all there! See bellow some photos from last year’s event showing some of the sections and action ; complete review and more pictures in this article : Fort William 2011.. Expect things to be a bit harder and more spectacular this year! In 2009, some of the Elite riders were followed around by a camera crew and the event was televised by the BBC – will they be there again this year?