Just having shortly returned from the national championships at Hadleigh Park, I set of a fortnight later for the final round of the HSBC MTB Cross Country Nationals of 2018. Hoping to bag a win and get the result I have been planning on for the whole MTB season, I knew I had to be focused and determined.

Having set off the Friday before my race on the following Sunday, gave me chance to properly look and practice the course giving me a slight advantage to my other competitors.

On race day, I woke up and thought about my game plan, I want to win this. The course didn't really have a very long start straight which then went into some woods with a lot of single track, I knew in my head that if I wanted to do well then it was all about the start. As the whistle went I shot off and was in 3^rd position leading into the woods, the first a-line was a slippery dried up stream that most people had difficulty with and catching up the under 16 girls who set off 30 seconds before us didn't help. In the end, everyone was running through the rocks and trying to get through the backmarkers. As I ran through, my pedal got stuck in someone's wheel which I had to untangle which left the leader having maybe a 5 second lead on me. Finally, untangled I raced out the woods which lead to a long steep climb where I took 1^st position, I quickly lost sight of them, and was building a gap.

On my second lap I was descending down a rock garden and crashed out at the bottom on the dirt causing me to lose about 3 seconds so I quickly jumped up and carried on to lap 3. The final lap was fast and I concentrated on getting to the end to take the win. This was the last stage and got the result I had wanted all season.

It is sad that the MTB season is nearly over but I am very excited for the Cyclocross season as I am going to be the higher year of the female juvenile category.