the flow blog

Thanks to Fionn for sending the following report to us:

Fionn Griffiths of the Norco World Team Takes double podium in South Africa.

The 2009 MTB world cup tour kicked off to a grueling yet awesome start this past weekend with the first round being held in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. The crowds traveled from all corners of the country and turned out in the tens of thousands to watch the cycling spectacle.
The GR managed Norco World Team was in attendance and took the initial step into the new season with a solid result. Fionn Griffiths tells us more about here South African experience and the success it held…

South Africa has really been an amazing host, I arrived in the country a little over two weeks ago and in that time I’ve managed to go on a small safari, race a national event, get bitten by an over playful lion cub and collect a double World Cup podium for the Norco World Team. The atmosphere here was electric the crowds got stuck into the event and really showed there support for all the riders. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be a South African racing this weekend, as I watched the nationals come down the sound of the crowd gave me goose bumps every time.

4X was always going to be hard at this event. Only the best of the best had made the journey to South Africa. The field included World Cup Champions current and past World Champions, National Champions and BMX Olympic Finalists and Medalists. Not to mention that this was the longest 4x track the World Cup Tour had ever seen.
Racing was exciting with the length of the track giving many passing opportunities.
In my semi final I had qualified 3rd and was up against Current World Cup champion Anneke Beerten who had qualified in 2nd, Emmeline Ragot the 6th place qualifier and Helena Fruhwirth the 7th qualifier. Anneke got a great gate start and made it to the front of the pack by the first turn. Emmeline squeezed by me I the first corner leaving me to drop into 3rd position, as we weaved our way down the hill I had a good idea of where I’d pass but had to be patient and wait for the correct moment to make the move. I jumped inside and past Emmeline on a big left hip jump and ran wide on the exit to block her from regaining her position on the next right turn. I managed to hold my 2nd to the finnish to advance to the final where I met Anneke Beerten, Romana Lobounkova and Jana Horakova. All three of these women have near perfect gate starts every time and I managed to screw mine up, needless to say I came into the first turn in 4th but used my DH skills to post my bike through an almost none existent gap and drift into 2nd spot behind Anneke. I could feel Romana snapping at my ankles through the tight S-bends but took the inside line to keep the door firmly closed.
When we crossed the line the order was:

1st Anneke Beerten – NED – Suspension Centre
2nd Fionn Griffiths – GBR – NORCO WORLD TEAM
3rd Romana Labounkova – CZE
4th Jana Horakova – CZE
5th Jill Kintner – USA

The Downhill track was long and physically demanding at this event, the Technical rock section was right out of the gate witch meant I had to be on pace from the beep of the start clock. I knew this and as I went out of the gate I tried so hard that I pulled my foot from my foot from my SPD pedal. Not the perfect start but I recovered and disposed of the “mistake” thought to carry on with my run. The steep technical section went fairly smoothly negotiating rocks roots and huge gap jumps. I was soon into the real hard work area of the track… the pedaling! And on this track there was a lot of it. I managed to throw down a fairly good run with only a few mistakes and was greeted at the finish line by Sabrina Jonnier who was firmly placed in the “hot seat” I gave her my congratulations and preceded to join the join the rest of the 10,000 + crowd in watching the final three riders come down the hill. Claire Buchar was next up and she put together her best world cup race run ever to slide in to 3rd place just behind myself. Emmeline Ragot must have pedaled and rode her heart out as this was not the best track for smaller riders but she pulled it together to come in ahead of Sabrina and take her place in the hot seat. Then came Tracy Moseley she qualified in 1st position and seemed to be finding speed on the track that was a mystery to the rest of us. It was Tracy’s Birthday on Sunday I had jokingly suggested that she it would be nice for her to take a day off but I think she much preferred the birthday present she was able to give herself as she put down an amazing run to take 6 seconds out of 2nd place. Congratulations to Tracy and also to Claire Buchar on her first ever world cup podium.

1st Tracy Moeley – GBR – Trek World Racing
2nd Emmeline Ragot – FRA – Suspension Center
3rd Sabrina Jonnier – FRA – Maxxis – Rocky Muntain
4th Fionn Griffiths – GBR – NORCO WORLD TEAM
5th Claire Buchar – CAN – Chain Reaction / Intense

Thanks to My Mechanic Paul Miles for all of his help in having everything work perfectly and to all of my sponsors for the support this season:

Norco
Kenda
Alex / A-Class
Control Tech
THE
The Cycle Jersey
Zeal Optics
Muc-Off
Flow MTB
E-13
Nuke Proof
aohaccountants.co.uk
Tibolts.co.uk
Superstar Components

Fionn Griffiths
Griffiths Racing
Norco World Team
www.griffithsracing.net