We’re celebrating over here! We are absolutely over the moon to say that our boy Laurie Greenland just won the Youth DH National Champion title!
Racing went down on a fast, dusty and super wild new track at Bala. Laurie knew from the start he’d love it as we walked the track on Friday night. The cocktail of big jumps and loose, drifty corners were exactly what he thrives on and he hit the track on Saturday morning fast and having lots of fun. Things didn’t go exactly to plan as he crashed on his second run, hit his knuckle and spent the rest of the weekend with a swollen hand that no amount of ice could shift. Still – he wasn’t the least bit interested in slowing down and with a bit of modification to his grip we got him comfortable and up to speed.
Seeding saw Laurie take a steady, chilled run and land in second place. His swollen hand was giving him some grief but not enough to put him off hitting everything absolutely flat out. For his race run he headed up with his dad Ben and did his usual warm up.
On track he started out steady but crashed with a full over the bars on a loose turn. He crossed the line looking frustrated, shaking his head and convinced he’d thrown away the title. “I hit my head so hard I was seeing stars!”.
When fastest seeding rider Andrew Dorrit crossed the line we listened to MC Steve Hardcastle read out the results and yep, he said it “1st place and your new National Champion Laurie Greenland!”. ย Needless to say there was some celebrating after that!
Huge thanks to Mike Marsden and co for an excellent race and to all of the Wideopenmag team – including Laurie’s dad Ben and all of our amazing sponsors for getting him to this point.
Congratulations mate – absolutely deserved!
