NEWS
Maribor World Cup Final - Josh Bryceland's View.
16th Sept 2007
Maribor, Slovenia
The World cup final took place last weekend in maribor slovenia. I went there on a mission to prove myself after a flat last weekend at the world championships. Me and dad arrived late wednesday night so i didn't get a chance to walk it before Thursday practice.
I was really excited because i heard it was a rad course so i went up as soon as i could to check it out. On first impressions the track was amazing lots of natural wooded sections, big flowing berms and this gnarly steep rock section. I ended up doing about 4 practice runs this day and i felt i was starting to get to know the course a bit better.
Friday i did another 4 practice runs and i had been riding with Marc Beaumont, this helped a lot because he pulled me up to speed and we had loads of fun riding together. That evening i walked the track and got a few new lines together, i got to try these out in the short practice session on saturday.
Coming into sunday i was confident and i wanted to win the junior overall badly. Rhuaridh was something like 17 points up so i knew what i had to do. I went for a god run in qualifying to get as many points as i could. I ended up 5th and this gave me 20 points. The jersey was back in my hands but the race was far from over. There was a long wait now before final so i went back to steve's room and got some shuteye. After what seemed like ages i went to the top for my race run with steve. I got to the top quite early so i put my ipod on and got in the zone. I did a warm up and then it was time. I set off and was having a pretty good run but i didn't want to throw it away so i was a bit over cautious in some sections and didn't go as quick as i could have, although near the bottom my arms were tired and i hit some roots and nearly lost it, i came through the line into 5th place.. this guaranteed me 9th place and i didn't think id hold the top 4 off with a run like that, sure enough i went into 9th and the jersey was mine.
I was pleased to put a good end to my first world cup season, its been long and has had its ups and downs. I've met some amazing people along the way and and to all the people who have helped me i cant thank you enough!
Also thanks kathy for the pictures
Josh