Cathkin Braes played host to the Red Bull Pump Track World Championship qualifier event earlier this year. With the new Velosolutions Pump Track gleaming in the Glasgow sunshine, it was a belter of an event.
Cathkin Braes played host to the Red Bull Pump Track World Championship qualifier event earlier this year. With the new Velosolutions Pump Track gleaming in the Glasgow sunshine, it was a belter of an event.Myself and fellow TrailCoach rider, Ross McArthur, headed down to the crowded event. Swapping out our trail bikes for some 26″ dirt jump bike action, we signed on, got our number boards and began practice.
The race course consisted of the full pump track lap, and not solely the outer perimeter loop as I was previously told. This called for some serious pump action, but not to knacker myself out too close to qualifiers, I took it easy until it was time to put down my first timed run.
Over 40 riders lined up for qualifiers, including local trials legend, Ali Clarkson. As we each set off, it was a case of laying down the cleanest and smoothest run possible in order to make it through to the finals. While my qualifying run wasn’t my smoothest, I overshot the final jump on straight, I managed to sneak my way into the finals amongst some seriously fast individuals.
For the final lap run, I gave it my all but it just wasn’t enough against the eventual winner, Mark Ducat, who put down an incredibly fast time, securing himself a ticket to the Red Bull Pump Track World Championship Finals in the US.
