Over the weekend, Carrie had rounds 3 and 4 in the Trial 2 women’s category. After a battling performance last time out in Lancashire, Carrie was excited to get stuck into the next round as it was hosted at her favourable venue at Hookwoods. However, Carrie was not on her usual bike this week due to the issues she experienced last time out. Instead, Carrie was on a Sherco 300 instead of her 250 and was unsure how she would adapt to the difference.
Saturday started with Carrie heading down to the warmup area where she could make any last-minute adjustments to the bike and get used to it before starting her round. Carrie struggled to adapt early on to it handling it much differently to what she is normally used to. With a few better sections later on in lap 1, disaster struck as the bike dropped out of gear going up a climb causing Carrie to fall back down with the bike following her. Carrie’s foot was then crushed by her bike and a tree causing her an immense amount of pain. After assessing herself on the spot and knowing nothing was broken, Carrie, like a warrior, climbed back onto her bike and powered through the remaining sections to finish lap 1 as well as completing lap 2. Carrie finished round 3 with a total of 112 points and a 9th-place finish.
Carrie’s foot got progressively worse as Saturday went on and with her foot continuing to swell, she was fearing the worst of not being able to compete on Sunday. With her foot elevated through the night, it would all depend on how she felt in the morning.
Carrie woke up on Sunday, still in pain, but feeling far better than the previous day and with a real desire to get through the trial. After strapping it up with endless amounts of tape, Carrie headed off and got her trial underway. Part way through the lap, Carrie had to voluntarily take a 5 on some sections involving steps, just in case it went wrong as she feared she couldn’t safely bail and jump off, as landing hard on her right foot simply was not an option. Carrie fought hard all day to get through sections and managed to cross the line after what seemed like an impossible task. It meant an impressive 8th-place finish for Carrie despite the many hurdles she had to overcome.
This is what Carrie had to say on her battling performance:
“I took home a P9 & a P8, which I am obviously not happy with at all, but taking into account all the circumstances of a foreign bike and an injured foot, I can be proud of my resilience for simply finishing.
Next up should have been an AMCA Ladies British Champ this Sunday, but as it currently stands I may have to drop out to let my foot properly heal and also get my bike sorted with the team ahead of the Manx Two Day in the middle of July”.
Everyone at Lexelle wishes Carrie a speedy recovery and we hope to see her back out there very soon competing again.