The National BikeTrial Championship, Round 3 Bishan Park Eco Pond

Organized by: - BikeTrial Singapore supported by Singapore sports council and sanctioned by Singapore Amateur cycling association.

Sponsors: - Monty Singapore/AttitudeBikes Pte Ltd

National BikeTrial Championship Round 3 was held at Bishan Park 1 Eco Pond, the most popular location for BikeTrial Championships in Singapore. It attracted the most number of participants since round one with a total of 22 BikeTrial riders in the Junior/Senior and Elite Category and 18 cyclists that took part for the first time in the OPEN category meant for beginners. Not forgetting the Medias, photographers, and park users who are all amazed by the riders ability to maneuver over the rocks and boulders.

The week following to the competition was raining everyday, so much so that all participants had mentally prepared to be wet and drenched on the competition day. Building of the 8 individual sections (course) was as difficult as it rides as the terrain was muddy and the rocks are scattered all around the slope terrain around the pond.

The wet mud and huge rocks made the competition the hardest so far in this year’s championship. What makes it tougher was the fact that these sections are designed around the rocks that are surrounding the Eco Pond. Which means one wrong move and you can go swimming with the Lilies and water skippers in the pond!

Luckily everyone went home dry and safe, a few near missies definitely but everyone enjoyed the competition.

 

The Elitists

The heat and the sudden rise of the humidity seems to suck away the strength and concentration of the riders towards the mid day. Stress Level in the Elite Category results in dramatic events happened throughout the whole event!

From riders’ shoes fill up with weeds and mud after steeping into the pond, to mechanical problems and physical abilities pushed to the maximum!

The first victim was the winner for the last round; Zhen Peng made a mistake at the last obstacle in one section and snapped his brake cable. Luckily he managed to fix on his spare brakes and carried on with the competition but due to the hydraulic oil stands on the rim surface, he was unable to enjoy full braking power and came in 4^th in this competition.

Next was Benjamin Loh who suffered cramps on his legs so bad that he has to be carried out of the sections while he’s laughing in disbelief! He recovered after some stretching and laughs it over with acts of “fake cramps” to scare the rest in the next two sections before finishing the competition with a well deserved 2^nd place in the Elite competition. Being one of the youngest in the National team, Benjamin shows high potential to win an International Medal for Singapore.

Benjamin pushed his physical limit to cover for his lack of focus as he was still mentally tired from the lack of rest. He was one of the committee members who helped to build the competition course just the day before.

The Final result of these events from the stressful competitions between the top riders sees a Champion competing against the rest with a bigger 26” Trial Bike as compared to the popular 20” bikes. Only two of these 26” size bike were the choice of weapon in the Elite Category of 9 riders.

Although the bikes the same look as that of your normal mountain bike, it did not stop Walton Seah, to win the event as the Elite Champion. Final Round will be a very exciting competition as the overall championship points in Elite are all very close together.

 

Junior/ Senior Category

J. Senior Category sees the rivalry of Daryl Chan and Matthew Tan once again head to head till the very last section. With new comer See Yong Kiong taking the 2^nd runner up position despite going against the more experience pair. Daryl and Matthew continue to conquer the category for top 2 positions.

Matthew Tan took the title away from Daryl in this category last round by 1 point lesser. and Daryl Chan had since sworn to regain his title which he won in Round 1.

Daryl fought hard in the difficult sections to create a difference in the points, going through the sections almost back to back without rest. This was to escape the crowd of riders moving together so that his opponent will not be able to see the technique he utilizes to conquer the sections.

Unfortunately for Daryl, Matthew still walks away with the champion title this time stretching the point’s difference to a 2 points gap as compared to the last competition.

Watch out for party crasher See Yong Kiong in the next round and let’s hope that Matthew can catch up on the Championship points that Daryl is now leading with just 1 more final round to go!

 

Open Category

For the first time, BikeTrial Singapore has opened up a category for cyclist to wants to have a feel of what BikeTrial is all about.

The respond was so good that BikeTrial Singapore will now consider having this category open for the general public to register and compete, to understand, and to enjoy this wonderful cycling sport.  

18 cyclists took part in this competition to experience the rules, the feel of having to ride within a constrained area and with two tapes by your side restricting you boundaries. Not for getting the arrow makers specifying the gates that the cyclist must pass through with their whole bike.

However, this new experience did not stop some whom was equipped with they full suspension/ hard-tail Cross-country / All- mountain bikes to take part. But the highlight of the day was the Chung family.

Lead by their father Eric Chung (41), who got the 2^nd runner up position if the day for Open category, Ethan Chung (8 yrs old) and Erica Chung (11 yrs old) performed extremely well against the big boys with big bikes with their normal BMXs. This comes to prove that BikeTrial has rooms for everyone understand the sun!

 

The Fair Game in the world

Due to the high number and variety of riders taking part during international events like The Asia-pacific, European or the World championships, more categories are used to maintain the difficulty level and safety based on age group. Hence you will not find the same luxury that you find here in Singapore to have a “beginner” category to experience BikeTrial sport.

 

Categories base on BikeTrial International Rules.

Femina Category (Age 7 years old and above)

Poussin Category (Age 7, 8 and 9 years old)

Minime Category (Age 10, 11 and 12 years old)

Benjamin Category (Age 13, 14 and 15 years old)

Junior Category (Age 16, 17 and 18 years old)

Senior Category (Age 19 and above)

Elite Category (Top 3 riders will be promoted to this category each year base on the overall combined championship standings for Senior/junior category* to compete against the best in the world)

 

*Senior/junior shares the same competition course 

 

Overall Position for Round 3 is as follow

 

Elite Category

 

Pla	Last name	Bike	Tot.
1	Walton Seah Jun Rong	Monty Kamel	36
2	Benjamin Loh	Monty Kamel	44
3	Low Yang Ming	Koxx Hydroxx	45

 

Junior/Senior Category

                      Name                           Bike                   Total Points

1^st Place        Matthew Tan                 Koxx                            46         

2^nd Place        Daryl Chan                   Monty                          48

3^rd Place        See Yong Kiong             Neon                           54 (w/penalty)*

 

*2 points was added for excess of 12 minutes used on total time used for the competition

 

Open Category

                      Name                            Bike                       Total Points

1^st Place        Ryan Goh                    Scott Scale                         10        

2^nd Place       Lim Jin Guang                   Yeti                               11

3^rd Place        Eric Chng                       Sinister                           13

 

Overall standings so far for 2008 championship points.

 

1^st place                     20 championship points

2^nd place                    17 championship points

3^rd place                     15 championship points

4^th place                     13 championship points

5^th place                     11 championship points

6^th place                      10 championship points

7^th place                       9 championship points

8^th place                       8 championship points

9th place                      7 championship points

10th place                    6 championship points

11^th place                     5 championship points

12^th place                     4 championship points

13^th place                     3 championship points

14^th place                     2 championship points

15^th place                     1 championship points