Great Britain and the ACU were once again ably represented at the FIM Trial des Nations which was held on the holiday island of Ibiza on the last weekend in September
Both men's and women's teams were unchanged from 2018 and the women went to Ibiza as defending champions.
Emma Bristow, fresh from securing her 6th consecutive Women's World Trials Championship the previous week was supported by newly crowned British Champion Jess Bown and the legend Donna Fox. The men were led by world number 6 James Dabill, British Champion Jack Price and the exciting talent Toby Martyn.
The event was based on the outskirts of Ibiza Town with some dubious definitions of a " closed circuit" and a few man-made sections for the public to admire the skills on offer.
The TdN is a great event where nations such as Australia and USA attend in great numbers and old acquaintances are rekindled and as such there is a great variation in skill levels leading to the general lay out of the course being on the easy side for the leading nations. Because of this any small mistakes are amplified in so much as the points are difficult to claw back. This proved to be the case for both the men and the women who both suffered penalties early on.
The women in particular fought hard to claim second place behind the home nation Spain but the first lap sealed the fate of the men's team. Their loss of 25 put them out of contention and despite equalling Spain's best lap of 2 marks on the second lap their fate was sealed and it was fourth place behind Spain, Japan and France at the end of the day.
There was no lack of effort and the team spirit was brilliant, but they returned home to lick their wounds and prepare for revenge next year in Gouveia Portugal