It was the first World Cup of 2011 and Pietermaritzburg, South Africa was one hell of a track to kick start the season on. It was flat out and dusty with a lot of pedalling, jumps and sweat involved! Everyone had seen helmet cams of the track and knew we were going to have to get our sprint on, so there had been a lot of training for the minute long sprints going on. harry 5 Practise went well and the track was pretty easy to learn as there wasn’t a massive line choice so once I’d done all the jumps I wanted to do all I had to work on was going fast. The only problem was conserving energy for race day, because if you didn’t put the effort in pedalling you just didn’t get anywhere! harry 6 Qualification was on the Friday which was earlier than usual but I felt I knew the track so it didn’t matter. About 30 seconds into my run I had a mechanical so I basically had to roll down to the bottom – luckily there were only about 18 girls racing so I was guaranteed a place in the final! The bad news was I had missed out on qualifying points but the good news was that I had plenty of energy left for the final on the Sunday. As I hadn’t had a proper qualifying run I didn’t know what to expect on race day. I knew I would struggle with the pedalling sections as almost all the other girls are clipped in so I was at a disadvantage but I was feeling good on the track. I went up for my run feeling excited but very nervous as I was the first rider off the start! My run felt good except for a few small mistakes, and I went steady on the top section to conserve my energy for the massive pedal in the middle section. I pushed as hard as I could all the way to the finish and by the time I reached the finish line I could hardly stand up! I was on the hot seat for quite a long time and was very happy when I realised I was going to be in the top ten as it was such a physical track. podium SA I ended up 8th overall in the women and was leading the Junior series. I was relieved to have done so well and to have got South Africa out of the way as it is probably the track I am weakest on – it all gets better from here! We all had a really good time and everyone in South Africa was really friendly. The event was really well organised with armies of staff to help you out with anything and everything – even bike washing. It was also the first World Cup for me on a trade team and it was so good having our own pits and our own mini marquee tent to hang out in. I’m looking forward to going back next year when I’ll be even stronger and possibly even clipped in! DSC_2626 I can’t wait for the next world cup at Fort William; I did well there last year and love the track. It’s so fast and a lot more technical than South Africa, which suits me.  Manon.