Hi all! Just thought I would write up short report of the Air Maiden Freeride competition that I was at last weekend in Scotland. Irish MTBers Aoife OâDonoghue, Joanne McCallum, Claire McCallum, Anne Duffy and myself made the trip across to Glentress Freeride Park. We caught the Belfast-Stranraer ferry, drove for about 2.5 hours to the wilds of the Scottish Borders and stayed in a hotel at the foot of the trails. Glentress is one of the 7-Stanes, a network of MTB trail parks around Scotland that has a mix of XC and Freeride trails. The setting was amazing, and almost 50 ladies took part in the Saturday coaching and the Sunday competition.
The format of the weekend was freeride coaching with DirtSchool coaches on Saturday, with a competition based on the skills learned on the Sunday. Members of The Clan freeride team judged the competition, where points were awarded for style, technique and progression from the previous days training.
On the Saturday, 50 ladies were divided up into groups that focused on different freeride skills; wall-rides, skinnies, drops, and jumps. The techniques behind the skills were taught before putting it into practice in the park. The coaches were excellent, and gave great tips to feel confident and get airborne. The day ended with a free BBQ where burgers were served up to hungry freeriders.
The Sunday competition had three rounds that each competitor had to complete twice. The first was a set of seven tabletops in a row; the second a ladder drop followed by two wallrides; and the final round was a set of fast small tabletops, and the choice of doing a box jump or a gap jump. Some very impressive moves were shown off, most impressively a back flip by the organiser Lynn Atchison.
Representing the Irish, Joanne flew over the biggest drop and launched off the gap jump, and Aoife got huge air over the tabletops.
This event was a great success, both because of the high quality of the coaching, and the laid back atmosphere. It was a great experience learning skills with so many other ladies and cheering each other on. The park itself was in amazing condition as the freeride area had been recently resurfaced. The event was won by a two-time Canadian BMX champion, and loads of freebies were handed out.
All the Irish ladies, both DH and XC, should try to make it over to this next year as the skills you learn are invaluable, you meet lots of really cool UK MTBers and get to play around a top-class freeride park.
Now, anyone know how to build a wall rideâ¦â¦
The format of the weekend was freeride coaching with DirtSchool coaches on Saturday, with a competition based on the skills learned on the Sunday. Members of The Clan freeride team judged the competition, where points were awarded for style, technique and progression from the previous days training.
On the Saturday, 50 ladies were divided up into groups that focused on different freeride skills; wall-rides, skinnies, drops, and jumps. The techniques behind the skills were taught before putting it into practice in the park. The coaches were excellent, and gave great tips to feel confident and get airborne. The day ended with a free BBQ where burgers were served up to hungry freeriders.
The Sunday competition had three rounds that each competitor had to complete twice. The first was a set of seven tabletops in a row; the second a ladder drop followed by two wallrides; and the final round was a set of fast small tabletops, and the choice of doing a box jump or a gap jump. Some very impressive moves were shown off, most impressively a back flip by the organiser Lynn Atchison.
Representing the Irish, Joanne flew over the biggest drop and launched off the gap jump, and Aoife got huge air over the tabletops.
This event was a great success, both because of the high quality of the coaching, and the laid back atmosphere. It was a great experience learning skills with so many other ladies and cheering each other on. The park itself was in amazing condition as the freeride area had been recently resurfaced. The event was won by a two-time Canadian BMX champion, and loads of freebies were handed out.
All the Irish ladies, both DH and XC, should try to make it over to this next year as the skills you learn are invaluable, you meet lots of really cool UK MTBers and get to play around a top-class freeride park.
Now, anyone know how to build a wall rideâ¦â¦