Sunday 18th January saw the YMSA kick off the 2015 seasonat Burycliff Quarry near Elton, in Derbyshire. Glorious clear blue skies greated a very good turnout of riders however some overnight frost did make some of the 12 sections a little more demanding for some of the riders. The classes catered for were Expert, A, B, C and D, Intermediates, Adult novice, and Youth novice and also for the first time and the rest of the YMSA 2015 season a new Green/Easy route. A classy turnout of riders on the day and great to see the World Ladies number 2 Becky Cook (Becky Talbot) putting in an appearance. There 12 good sections with 3 laps.
The Expert route was closely fought unfortunately Luke Walker dropped 5 on section 11 on the 1st lap which, as it turns out effectively cost him the trial, losing to Jack Spence who finished on 6. Edward Dain had a walkover win being the only entrant in A class. In B class we saw Ben Morris coming in ahead of Mitch Brightmore with a creditable score of 66. David West had a good day over in intermediates finishing on a respectable 25 with Alice Minta also having a good ride. In Youth Novice Louis Bennett, Alicia Robinson and Brett Harbud Had a great ride with Louis taking first place on 67. In Adult Novice we saw Daniel Burton (son of Barry "the organiser" Burton) winning on 33 over Richard Whalley on 39. The new Green route was won by Andrew Weston on 23 with Alfred Alderman taking first place in D Class on 38.
Our thanks must go to all the observers who all braved some very cold conditions. The next YMSA Championship trial will be at Dudwood Farm on the 22nd February, we hope to see you all there.