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<\/a>American Richard Rude Jnr produced the run of the day when he claimed the Junior Men’s Downhill World Championship title some five seconds ahead of the second placed rider at the Cascades MTB Park in Pietermaritzburg on Friday<\/em><\/span><\/span>
Photo: Darren Goddard\/Gameplan Media<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/div>\n
The junior women\u2019s clash was the first of the morning and with only five competitors it was a one horse race as Seagrave, last year\u2019s silver medallist, took the rainbow striped jersey in a time of 4:52.001, finishing seven seconds ahead of second placed Australian Danielle Beercroft.<\/p>\n
The obvious absentee from the event was defending champion Holly Feniak who did not take to the course in the timed runs on Thursday, giving Seagrave the inside line to the title after she ended first in the timed runs.<\/p>\n
Seagrave\u2019s victorious run was slower than her efforts yesterday however, coming into the encounter, the British youngster was confident that if she kept it together coming down the hill she had a great chance of winning the gold medal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe win hasn\u2019t quite kicked in yet,\u201d the elated winner said shortly afterwards. \u201cEven though Holly (Feniak) didn\u2019t ride today anything could have happened coming down and I just needed to get down the hill.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just wanted to make sure that I had a clean run because I was really nervous about crashing!<\/p>\n
\u201cI was slower than my run yesterday but I wanted to be cautious today because a crash can cost you the title,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
The wind appeared to be a factor for many of the riders as they flew down the hill however bronze medallist, Tegan Molloy of Australia, did not find it to be too much of a factor on her run.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe wind wasn\u2019t too bad when I came down because it was quite early but it did pick up a bit later.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt got a little gusty which can put you off but it didn\u2019t really make much of a difference during my run,\u201d the Australian mentioned.<\/p>\n
In the junior men\u2019s American Richard Rude Jnr blew away the rest of the field to claim the win five seconds ahead of the first placed qualifier Frenchman Loris Vergier and third placed Briton Michael Jones.<\/p>\n
The American was in fourth place at the first split and really put the hammer down in the final section of the course to claim the gold, knowing only too well what he was going to have to do in order to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made up the time that I missed out on on the pedal section of the course and I had trained for that coming into the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew that if I did well in that section of the course I would be tired in the end but the end has a lot of jumps and not as much peddling,\u201d the new World Champion said.<\/p>\n
It was a case of just getting through the run for the American and he was not too aware of what else was happening and the elements that might have been affecting his ride.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really wasn\u2019t thinking too much coming down, I just wanted to make sure that I kept my ride together and got down the hill as fast as I could!\u201d<\/p>\n