Local mountain bike racer, Hudson Tarling continues to impress on the world stage.
The fearless youngster has recently raced in Austria, Italy and France, with races in Canada and the USA on his calendar.
Prior to heading overseas, Tarling raced in Cairns on the Crankworx World Tour and at the Oceania Championships.
Despite the conditions being tricky, the humidity high and thunderstorms rolling through at night, which meant slippery dirt conditions on both finals days, Tarling rode superbly.
Confident in the conditions, Tarling placed second in both races, a great building point for heading overseas.
His first race in Europe was in Leogang, Austria, which was an outstanding learning experience, with the racing different to Australian conditions.
Tarling noticed the track had changed dramatically from his last practice run and qualified, finishing 57th overall but knowing he had plenty of improvement left in him.
The second race was in Val Di Sole, Italy, a track notorious for its difficulty and it didn’t disappoint.
With a lot of rain over the days coming into the event, the track was very wet and slippery, with numerous people crashing out in practice, making it a survival of the toughest.
Tarling completed his final run, not happy but safe in 47th and a big performance just around the corner.
With a two-and-a-half week gap in between the second and third race, Tarling trained in Morzine, France, regarded as the best place you can go to train in the world for downhill riding.
The third race was in Les Gets, France, with Tarling happy with both his mindset and preparation.
“I was feeling the best I’d felt on the bike coming into this race after an awesome couple weeks training, practice went super well and was feeling I had the speed to do well,” Tarling said.
Riding with that positivity and an all or nothing attitude, Tarling went for it, unfortunately around the midpoint he made a big mistake, going slightly off track.
He regrouped, crossing the line in 37th, not totally happy but satisfied that if he gets it all together, he can be competitive on the world stage.
Tarling is gratefully supported by the East Gippsland Sports Foundation.
