2012 MTB World Champs, Leogang, Austria

After narrowly missing out on an Olympic place both of our star riders had extra motivation for what was for them, the biggest race of the year.  The World Championships!

The race was set in a stunning location not far from Salzburg in Austria, with the backdrop of the mountains and on a course many considered "easier than usual" for a World Championship event, however, very tough to race - this was all set to be one of the most exciting championships in years.

After a last minute pull out from Great Britain due to illness it was just South Africa and Rourke who would be present for us in the team relay event.  Burry Stander was first to go on the all out one lap each effort and came through in a respectable 6th position after his lap, the Junior rider then did well to keep the team as high as 10th before Rourke went out to put in one of the quickest laps of the entire race and bring the team up to 3rd place before Candice Neethling went out to do a great lap giving the South African team a finish of 11th place.

Consistently working hard throughout the season gave Rourke a starting plate of 11 and grid position of 10th meaning he was 2nd row on a packed start line.  After a great start, Rourke was boxed in on the first climb leaving him some work to do in the opening two laps which he duly got on with and soon found himself pushing on to just outside the top 20.  

The course was fast but still slippery from a downpour the previous day, Rourke rode exceptionally in the closing laps to move up to a finishing position of 18th ahead of Olympian Marek Konwa showing just what an incredible field of athletes there are in the world right now.

In his own words Dave has had an up and down year in 2012, this his first year as a senior and starting from the back of the grid has proved difficult at times for the World Junior Bronze medallist.  However he has the great ability to rise to the big race occasion and it was no different as we watched Dave move quickly from 62nd on the grid to just inside the top 50 on the opening few laps.  It was a quick course with riders lapping in a little over 12 minutes and by lap 6 Dave was pushing on to just outside the top 40.

Finishing 44th just ahead of Olympian, Phillip Buys can be considered as nothing less than outstanding in his first senior World Championships.  

Our two star riders from Great Britain and South Africa showed the world that they are coming - both improving on previous performances and showing that at a young age they are ready to compete with the best athletes on the planet!

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