With very little time for sightseeing the Mountain Bike World Cup Circus upped sticks and travel across to the East Coast stopping three hours south of New York in Windham for the second stop on the Trans Atlantic leg of this years competition.
Again three FMTB trained athletes were in action Olie Burton (Arbath/Speedsport) Harry Molloy (Madison Saracen) and Dave Kynaston (Team Lac Blanc/Solid/Massif Des Vosges) making the trip to one of the shortest and fastest stops on this years circuit.
With a mixture of fast open sections, tight rocky woods and massive jumps all three riders were in their element. With such a short track there wasn’t going to be any room for hesitation and they set to work dialling their lines for Friday’s qualifying.
Fresh from finishing 55th and 67th for Harry and Olie respectively both riders put in fast but safe runs to ensure they qualified. With Harry in 56th and Olie in 62nd they could relax with their places booked for Sunday’s finals. Dave was back on it on the shorter track and he continues to build his World Cup experience coming home in 111th.
Another fast dry track greeted the riders on Sunday morning and Olie was first on track knowing that with a track so short he had to leave everything on it he put in a good solid run. Clocking 2min 39secs enough to secure him 68th on the day and some more valuable UCI points.
Harry flew out of the start gate and was up with the fastest at the first split, a small mistake cost him a few seconds and by split two his time had slipped off the pace and he finished with a time of 3mins 42seconds putting him in 72nd place. With American Aaron Gwin (Trek World Racing) taking the win on home soil and mountain bike ledgend Steve Peat (Santa Cruz Syndicate) in second the whole of Windham went mental.
While Olie catches up with family in New York, Harry and Dave are heading home to prepare for the domestic race of the season the National Championships at Llangollen from the 22nd to 24th July. With a couple of weeks to prepare expect to see all three Firecrest Athletes and the rest of the FMTB Trained Athletes who’ve been on domestic duties chasing those National Jerseys on the steep slopes of Llangollen in North Wales.