Last weekend saw the opening round of the Women’s World championship in France in the town of St. Michel de Maurienne. It was very hot all weekend with not much breeze or shade to keep riders cool. All the sections were marked out in the same areas as for the men the following day which made it very hard for the organisers as most of the terrain was all or nothing which resulted in the hardest and largest sections ever to be used in the Women’s championship! However, MRS BVM Sherco rider, Becky Cook was very happy with the sections after walking them the day before and did not want any sections to be eased for the following day’s competition. Becky started well with a clean on the opening section which took marks off most riders, followed by a trio of two’s on the next three sections. For the rest of the lap it seemed to be either clean or five for Becky and several mistakes proved costly as she broke the tape on one section and took out a marker on another. She completed the first lap on thirty three marks. Her second lap proved much the same, with some brilliant rides on section two and the big step on section five but once again spoiled by several fives to finish on a slightly improved thirty marks which put her in fourth place at the end of the day.