Mountain Biking was an interesting event to host on campus. Where on earth were the organisers going to put a slalom course? It turned out that the patch of grass behind the InfoLab was the ideal spot. This area was transformed into a downhill course, with hills and obstacles, that may have been short in length but proved difficult for many riders. Fortunately the weather, as for the whole weekend, was excellent, which meant at least the course was dry.
This event was worth 4 points, so was a good opportunity for Lancaster to score and that’s exactly what we did. The day began with timed qualifiers, before head to head slaloms decided the winner. Some riders took the course too slow, which allowed for accuracy, but damaged their time. Other riders went too fast and went outside of the course. For success, getting the right balance between speed and accuracy was key. This event was also interesting compared to others at Roses because the course was created just for this race, which meant Lancaster did not necessarily have an advantage over York just because they were cycling on home turf. In the end, Lancaster still triumphed after a strong showing, with York failing to make it to the final.
