---

Despite not getting into the saddle until December, Garth Thomson once again rode off with the National Mountain Bike Championship.

That makes four in a row for the charismatic Canadian rider, and, with any luck, it might have been seven.

"I wasn't into the swing of things with the riding up to Christmas. Normally, I would have raced the whole season so I felt I was a little late bringing my form together. I felt that I had really good form at the right time at the national championships - I was hitting my stride."

The championships were once again held at Ferry Reach, in Thomson's opinion Bermuda's best mountain bike course, but it featured a new route, which presented its own challenges.

"Ferry Reach by far the most demanding mountain bike track on the island," he said. "It's probably twice as long per lap than any other course that we do. It's about a 12-minute lap as opposed to six minutes anywhere else.

"It's a little longer so you don't always see your other competitors and where they are and that always makes it a bit more challenging. With shorter courses you kind of have a good idea where you stand at any minute. There's a bit of an unknown factor to it."

He praised this year's race organizers - Grant Goudge and Jeff Amaral - for a great job of finding new trails to test the riders.

"That was fun. I've raced a few years, as most of the guys have, and finding these new routes makes it an extra challenge for us all. That's what makes it fun rather than a five-mile loop on the road at Southside. This takes us out of our comfort level."

He picked up the sport prior to coming to Bermuda, but it wasn't until a friend here encouraged him to enter a race on a borrowed bike.

"I went out to the first race and won it and haven't stopped since and that was seven years ago."

But he hasn't always had things all his way. While this may have been his fourth title in a row, it could have been seven if he didn't have some bad luck.

"I had some trouble. I had three years of mechanical problems and broken bikes so I had better thank my mechanic."

He said the sport has some room to grow and there are some talented youngsters participating like the Days (Courtney and Ryan), the Oatleys (Daniel and Christian), the Godfreys (Jessie and Mark) and the Jordans (Sarah and Elizabeth).

Thomson said: "I know this is the third year that Ed Jordan and Neil de ste Croix have organized the Tokio Youth Mountain Bike Series. I helped get that started, but unfortunately haven't done as much the last couple of years. But they are still doing that and that's a great way to get kids out and involved. There's not many activities in Bermuda where a child or a young person can go out to a park and can have as much as you can on a trail.

"The hard part for the organizers is getting the kids there, but once you get them there...they have a lot of fun out on a mountain bike. It's them and a bike and a trail as opposed to them having to rely on other people all the time.

"I think team sports are important, but it's a good break for kids by being involved in an individual sport where they can learn other things."

Besides helping with the youth, Thomson has also helped give back to Bermuda by representing the country at the Island Games, but he'll miss this summer because cycling will not be a part of the official programme for the sporting festival.

"That's too bad, I would have loved to have gone because it's a great run event and always first class."

[[In-content Ad]]

---