Youth Club: Palmer packs a punch
By Team TMX on 15th Jun 16
ECOSSE XC a newly formed club, hosted their debut event at West Linton Peeblesshire this past weekend.
TheYRF Enduro Duo of Cristina Palmer and Jack Hughes headed for the hills to take part in the weekend's events.
The day before the event a training camp had been arranged to raise funds for the SACU ISDE team. The instructors Ricky Mair, Fraser Norrie and Fraser Flockhart spent Saturday giving helpful pointers on how to tackle parts of the course and the best technique to use.
Sunday morning arrived and along with it came the rain. However, this didn't faze the young racers, but, did make the course a little slippy for the hour and a half Hare and Hounds Race.
The youth class had been run overall mixing 85cc and 65cc due to lower entries in the 65 class.
Young Jack Hughes set away from the line in last place after a confusing start line decision to merge the two classes. The course proved difficult in the wet on the 65cc machines and proved difficult even for some 85cc bikes. On the first lap when coming down one of the steeper hills, the youngster hit a hole which flung him over the handle bars sending the bike over his head and landing on his leg. The youngster got back on his KTM and brushed the fall aside and carried on to take third 65 across the line "I
Cristina Palmer got a fantastic start and attacked the first sand obstacle that most adults struggled with. The young lady racer showed consistency and determination despite the weather and track conditions. "I really enjoyed the race,” said Cristina "I really liked the sand double jump at the beginning, but the rest of the course was really slippy which made it a bit tiring. I came across the line, first 65 so I'm really happy.”
