The Journey.From Wrexham to Povazska Bystricia in Slovakia is about 1400 miles.Five vans carried all riders, helpers, bikes, tyres and spares, so we set off to catch a 2.00 amWed morning Ferry from Dover to Dunkirque. A non stop drive through France, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Slovakia was a long way to go in one hit but we arrived for booking into the hotel on Thurs and quickly got settled in.The Start Venue.The Start venue was situated right in the town centre in a Sports Stadium / Bus Station. An ideal venue and right in the middle of each days run. The British area was just about big enough for all our teams and the Welsh teams set up our mega tent (courtesy of Sue Hockey) which would serve as our food and work area for the week.Walking Tests signing on and technical inspection.Over the next few days the riders were up and out by 7.00am to walk a couple of tests each day and then back before it got too hot .This left the afternoons for things like signing on, Technical inspection and the opening ceremony. No one had any problems with these formalities and after some of the recent six day accreditations it seemed very relaxed and easy.The opening Ceremony.If you wanted to plan a boring night, this would take the award. FIM officials making speeches in various languages weren?t particularly exciting. but the following trials riders demonstration and MX jumpers livened it all up a bit. The Welsh team volunteered B Team rider Tom Knill to wear our red dragon suit. He stole the show and everyone in the multi thousand strong audience went wild with applause.Day 1Day 1 was set for B schedule but was still thought to be tight enough for some of the club riders. I would guess the pace to be about quick expert at our own British Championship events. All Welsh team riders had a trouble free day, the going was out of this world (Rowans Words) and it set the scene for a cracking week ahead. The A Team finished in 3rd place ( Rowan E2, Dylan E1, Andrew E1) and the B Team in 28th ( Tim E2, Craig E3, Tom E2,) Both teams did excellent tests and changed rear tyres at night in the 12 mins available.About 77 Club Teams entered.Day 2.Day 2 was a repeat of day 1 but now on ?A? schedule. This gave riders an average of five mins less per check and was tight even for the Trophy teams. Our Welsh teams all cleaned the checks but pretty well rode round with only a minute to spare at checks. No one had any problems and did front and rear tyres in the 12 mins available plus air filters for those with time to spare. The tests today were less advantageous for the club teams and our lead over Trophy riders suddenly disappeared.Welsh ?A? Team dropped one place to 4th and the ?B? Team rose up to 25th.
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Report of ISDE Event in Slovakia 2005. by Jeff Edwards
Welsh Six-Day Team History.
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