The 2013 FIM Women's World Trial Championship concluded over the past two weekends in Isola 2000 and La Chatre, France. Top Trial Team rider, Becky Cook headed out as the provisional leader of the championship after the first round in Andorra earlier in the year.
First stop was Isola 2000, which caused many riders bike issues as the event was held 2000 meters above sea level at a ski resort. Top Trial Team did a fantastic job though of preparing Becky's bike ready for the high altitude and it ran perfectly all weekend.
Becky rode well on the first day with no major mistakes but to many cautious marks lost and found herself in third position behind Laia Sanz and Emma Bristow. The second day unfortunately didn't go much better, with a bike stall in one of the easier sections, she struggled to make back the marks and with her second minder crashing hard on the second lap and having to go to hospital it was a bad day all round for the team. She managed to salvage another third place though, which still put her in contention for the title going into the final round.
The second week in La Chatre was to hold this final world round of the Women's World Trial Championship and the Women's Trial Des Nations the following day. It was a three way race for the title between Becky, Laia and Emma and whoever won on the day would be proclaimed World Champion.
Unfortunately Becky's dream was not to be realised this time as the day turned into a disaster. She rode terrible by her standards on sections that should have suited her very well, she never felt comfortable on the bike and couldn't get into any kind of rhythm. She tried everything she knew but nothing worked and she suffered her worst result for years down in tenth place.
On the positive side she was able to drop this result as each rider's best three results count towards the championship. She eventually finished third in the overall standings only two points off second. Becky and the team were very disappointed but had to be satisfied with at least improving on last year's overall position of fourth in the championship.
The following day was the Women's Trial des Nations, with the British team of Becky, Emma Bristow and Joanne Coles as favourites for the win. In her tenth year of representing Great Britain, Becky was focused on securing the victory with her team mates. Everyone pulled together and performed well and they took a brilliant victory loosing less than half the marks of the Spanish team in second.
Becky had this to say about her 2013 international campaign:"The only thing that has eluded my career so far is the World Championship so I was pretty gutted to be honest after leading the standings after the first round and going into the final round still with a real chance to take the title, and then loosing it in such a way is hard to take. But I will still take some positives from this season, recording my first ever world round victory in Andorra is one of the highlights of my career and moving back up the rankings from last season is an improvement. The British girls bringing home the Trial des Nations was a great moment, there is so much talent in Britain at the moment and I hope to be part of it for a few more years and will continue to fight for my ultimate goal of World Champion! Finally massive thanks to all my sponsors, Top Trial Team, Beta UK, Wightlink, BVM Moto, Michelin, Putoline, Factory Pink, Alpinestars, High 5, Saunders Extreme Sports, Raw Sports, IOW Council and all my family, friends and supporters for all their help this year"