Whilst everyone looks back at 2020 as a year of disruption and uncertainty, the fact that the Championship managed to complete four of the panned eight rounds was an achievement in itself. A lot of people contributed to this, the ACU Trials & Enduro Committee for supporting the championship in difficult times, the Organisers of each event, the Sponsors who stuck by us, most certainly the Landowners, the ever-reliable Observers and of course, the Riders.
In a year which started full of high expectations, the first round got off to the usual good start at Hookwood in March, when at that time, the virus seemed like a potential minor inconvenience, but soon after the event it became apparent that sport in the UK was under threat, but for how long?
The final three rounds were all completed in October and it is a credit to riders who still maintained high numbers and over sixty entries were received for each round. For the final three rounds sixty was designated the safe number which could be accommodated in the new, normal way of running events.
In total about eighty riders took part across the four rounds and out of these fifty eventually became points scorers and established themselves a place in the UK's pinnacle of Trials Riders. The biggest class was the Expert class with nineteen-point scorers and out of these the top ten scored in every round. It was pleasing to see the ACU Trial 2 class finishing with seventeen-point scorers of which most, but certainly the top twelve, racked up the points in every round.
The ACU Trial 125 class has strengthened in 2020 with seven-point scorers in a class which is being developed and growing.
Make no mistake, the elite ACU Trial GB class is not for the faint hearted and the competition is tough. All seven riders finished fairly close together and some surprises were dealt, with everyone missing at least one round, for various reasons.
So the purpose of this communication is to congratulate all riders who took part, especially the fifty point scorers and we look forward to seeing you again in 2021, when Covid hopefully retracting, all rounds will take place.
Our picture shows a selection of signs which reflects the restrictions which had to be applied post round one.