I did better than last year. 9th out of 12 with and under than 5 minute run even with a stress fracture of my left hand. (yes, typing is hard) The course was fun,but difficult at the same time.
Good work, Jess. That course is REALLY, REALLY tough for the AM women, and it's a feat to just ride it, much less race it. The trail BMW still scares me every time I ride it. Can't imagine racing on it. Hope your hand heals up.
One girl rider behind me in the line up crashed in the rock garden head first. Then after getting up and riding,...she tried the pro line jump and fell short. She landed hard. They air lifted her to Morristown med hospital. we later learned she broke her neck. I know she was moving her hands and feet when she was in the stretcher, so I hope she's going to be okay.
Apparently she broke her neck on that first crash, then got up not realizing it was broken (since she wasn't paralyzed), and rode off the pro jump, where she started blacking out mid-air. According to my friend Luke, who's friends with her brother, the MRI's show no spinal cord damage, so she should recover just fine, but will be in the hospital for a couple weeks. Best wishes for a quick recovery.
Beyond that, the race was mind-blowing. The times were incredible, the new additions all over the mountain were fun (I can't wait to see them finish that half-built step-up after the wall-ride- looks like they just didn't get it built in time for the race). And the kicker above the stairsteps on crap chute is pretty cool, too. Watching Steve Smith blaze in faster than Sam's qualifying time, then seeing Same come out of the woods a second later than we expected- everyone was on the edge of their seats for the 12 seconds it took for Sam to ride from the woods over the pro jump into the finish. As he was pedaling in, I couldn't help but yell at the guys I was with "he's not going to do it!" Unbelievable win for Smith. Makes that Seasons section all the more meaningful...