OBSERVATION
Ian Smith
International events for handy club- and national-standard riders appear to be getting ever more popular, with a variety of events around the globe and seemingly new ones every year. The most popular is the 110-year-old Scottish Six Days Trial, with more than 500 hopefuls entering for 280 places. A contender for 2nd place is the Three Day Trial Santigosa in Northern Spain. Every Easter more than 200 riders set off, followed by perhaps 100 ‘Seguidors’ who tend to chaperone the younger riders. Entries seem to fill up within hours of the opening. There is a relationship between the two events, with the legendary Sandy Mack OBE inviting Spanish riders to the SSDT and a reciprocal invitation coming from Spain to the ‘Brits’. The result is always a healthy smattering of Brits, making the trip to Spain. In 2019 they totalled 35 out of 221, with eight of them falling into the Youth and Junior categories.
The format is a proven winner. Every rider competes on the same course and in exactly the same sections. It goes from Trials legends like Dougie Lampkin down to ‘Joe Clubman’.
Daily course
There is a total of 31 sections per day. A daily course tends to consist of about 25km of singletrack and fire roads on the way round the first 20 sections or so, followed by a fuel stop and nice lunch and then another ten-ish sections on a 15km run back to town.
Several sections each day will be very difficult, and it’s likely only the brave will attempt! For Joe Clubman, this will add a few fives. At the end of each day, there is the traditional graded hill-climb, followed by the final section — a graded arena section in the centre of Abadessas. Each day the final sections increase in difficulty with only World Class riders capable of ‘zero point’ or clean rides. A real attraction of the event and one that makes it unique is that the sport’s superstars are invited to ride around as ‘guests’.
In 2019 this meant the participants could be rubbing shoulders and riding the same sections as Toni Bou, Adam Raga, Jaime Busto, Takahisa Fujinami, etc. All these riders clearly take this event as a bit of fun and as a way of giving something back to the sport. All are more than willing to converse, sign autographs and pose for selfies. It’s a real thrill to line up for a section and have a quick chat with Gas Gas factory rider Jeroni Fajardo while waiting! A further fun factor is provided by the encouragement of the vocal observers, some of whom appear to be a little juiced up with rum and coke!
The ‘Brits’
For those Brits making the trip, the trial itself is just one part of the adventure. For us, Team Smith, this year was a little extra special, with a stop at a Spanish practice area a couple of days before the event where we got together with Jitsie road warriors and VLOG stars Jan Peters and Richard ‘Milky’ Midgely for a photo/video shoot with Dougie Lampkin. Jan added an impromptu photo session with our own Elliot Smith featuring the range of OSET/Jitsie riding gear. Jan and Milky are now added to the long list of Elliot’s heroes, ranking just a tad below King Dougie!
We also just happened to be sharing the practice area with rising Spanish star Gabriel Marcelli who was preparing for round one of the European Championship — where he ended up in a fine second place. On top of that, Elliot made another dream come true with a visit to Barcelona Football Club and enticed a few Spanish kids into a game at the campsite.
The 3DTS
To give an idea of the level at the 3DTS, the results tell a story. Miquel Gelabert, Dougie Lampkin and Jorge Casales all finished on six, with Miquel sneaking the win. In brilliant fourth and fifth places were Brits Ross Danby and Andy Chilton on 10. Billy Green made his Santigosa debut and ended in a fine eighth place on 18. Tom Minta, Tom Affleck, Luke Walker and Dec Bullock occupied the 15th–19th places.
Next up would have been Oliver Smith and Mitch Brightmore but they, unfortunately, took a wrong turn on day one and missed two sections. It just so happened to be the longest stretch of gnarly trail and trying to get back resulted in Mitch running out of fuel. Fifty points in penalties each didn’t help their positions! Arguably the ride of the week came from 12-year-old Ashton Brightmore. The youngest rider in the event, Ash was ‘on it’.
The ‘3DTS’ is split into age categories for the awards. The Brits are always well represented, and this year was no exception as you will see. JUVENILE 2: Elliot Laws 11–13-YEAR-OLDS: 116. 1: Ashton Brightmore 79; CADET 14–16-YEAR-OLDS: 4: Alice Minta 137; 11: Alfie Lampkin 219. JUNIOR 17–19-YEAR-OLDS: 2: Billy Green 18; 9: Oliver Smith 97; 11: Mitch Brightmore 110; 12: Scott Aitkin 110; 13: William Dalton 115. OVERALL: 1: Miquel Gelabert 6; 2: Dougie Lampkin 6; 3: Jorge Casales 6; 4: Ross Danby 10; 5: Andy Chilton 10. Anyone wanting to compete in this event should keep their eyes on the media and press; it’s well worth attending!