Aaron Gwin
American Aaron Gwin was joint World Cup leader with Greg Minnaar going into this weekend's race, but had a bad qualifying run - crashing twice (note the dirty knee-pads in this shot already - I was maybe a minute or two down from the start gate, with another three minutes of riding below this point).
Despite the difficulties in the qualifying runs, Aaron went on to set an early time in the final that the later riders struggled to match, meaning he won Fort William's Downhill title for the first time after missing out narrowly last year.
Brief highlights of his winning run in the misty/rainy conditions the following day are available here and show the kind of speeds these guys were reaching on the course (these shots don't do the speed justice): www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VKhBl5sdkk
Aaron Gwin
American Aaron Gwin was joint World Cup leader with Greg Minnaar going into this weekend's race, but had a bad qualifying run - crashing twice (note the dirty knee-pads in this shot already - I was maybe a minute or two down from the start gate, with another three minutes of riding below this point).
Despite the difficulties in the qualifying runs, Aaron went on to set an early time in the final that the later riders struggled to match, meaning he won Fort William's Downhill title for the first time after missing out narrowly last year.
Brief highlights of his winning run in the misty/rainy conditions the following day are available here and show the kind of speeds these guys were reaching on the course (these shots don't do the speed justice): www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VKhBl5sdkk