New venue, great weather, and a new sort of trial to try as well............what more could you wish for?

We set off from “Quakesville” under cloudy sky's with rain forecast. Hurunui rewarded us with blue skies and temps in the mid twenties. Over twenty riders made the trip, not a bad turnout considering it's a wee bit out of town.

John “RAVO” Ravenscroft came along to set out and school us in the delights of a 'gated trial'. He set out three 'gated sections' for us to try and was on hand to guide us through the concept. Seven normal sections were set so we divided up into three groups, one took a turn at the gated ones whilst the rest tackled the normal stuff. I'll try to explain the concept best I can..........

Put your front wheel through the start flags (gate) and you collect 5 points !!!

Get though the next set of flags (gate) and you collect another 5 points !!!

By the time you've made it (if you can) through eight 'gates' you could have amassed 40 points.........

You can choose how many gates you attempt and which ones to use or miss out as you go further into the section (the sections are relatively long).

You really have to try it to appreciate how wicked and fun this type of trial is.....

The rest of the trial was brilliant as well. The seven sections were some of the best clubby A lines I've ridden. A fine mixture of cambers with tight turns, slippery stream and dry stream bed rocks. This is a property with huge potential, the owner wondered why we chose the area we did because he said there's heaps of better terrain elswhere on the property !! A big thanks to the Frazer and Ironmonger families for a great venue.

Expert rider Karl Clark from Motueka showed he was on form with taking out the top class, Jason Baker on his new Ossa from Blenheim came in second and new riders to Expert Class Brad Hibbs from Invercargill in third and Blake Fox in fourth.

Carl Robson from Wellington took out A-Grade ahead of Callum Anderson from Nelson.

Intermediate grade was fought hard by all riders but Daniel Clark from Riwaka who stepped up a grade from last year took our first place ahead of Christchurch rider John Regan and in third place from Dunedin Darryl Parkhill.

Clubman grade was won by Gavin Fox from Dunedin, second place from Blenheim Caleb O’Dwyer and third place Keith Ruthven from Mosgiel.

Presidents grade was another closely fought grade but Brendon Wadsworth from Blenheim won first place, Ross Bristol from Christchurch in second place and Alan Honeybone also from Christchurch in third place.

Junior class was won by David Trewin from Kaikoura, Brent Dalley from Christchurch came in second, Billy Rowley also from Christchurch in third and Gareth Wadsworth who competed in his first competition came in fourth place.

The Nelson Trials Group would like to thank Ernie Drummond the property owner for the use of the great property and with helping move stock so we could run our event. Also Bob Cooke for his help with the observers and taking some photos. And all those club members who took their time in helping us make a great event possible.