I am not Hunter S Thompson, and I never will be. One of the many ways in which I am not him is that I am not a sports writer. So I am as surprised as anyone that I find myself writing up a sporting event, especially a world level elite one. As so often, I plead for tolerance from my readers as I recount a mind blowing weekend at the UK leg of the TrialGP World Championship, which left me asking somewhat breathlessly “What the hell was that?!”
Throughout my life as a biker I’ve had a go at several motorcycle sports, and I’ve spent precisely one day doing Trials. I kid you not when I say that it was probably the hardest physical challenge I’d ever put myself through, and had my efforts been marked, without a doubt I would have been ranked bottom in the entire world.
The FIM TrialGP, the elite international competition, returned to Great Britain for the first time in 7 years. The event in September 2025 was the concluding leg, following previous engagements in the USA, Japan, France, Spain and Portugal. There is one more event to come in Italy, but the GB one was the concluding one of the championship, making it all the more significant.
When I was invited to tag along by a pillar of the grassroots British trials community, I accepted enthusiastically. I didn’t know much about the current state of the sport but I was aware of the great Toni Bou’s incredible achievements and his total domination of the sport, and I was keen to witness his greatness first hand. Plus my own limited experience of attempting trials meant that I was aware of the amazing skill level one would witness from all competitors, so I figured I was in for a pretty good weekend.
Apart from that, I didn’t know what to expect. The only world-level sports events I’d been to before have been boxing bouts: the quarter finals during the 2012 Olympics which featured both Joshua and Usyk as amateurs, and then a decade or so later their heavyweight fight at the Spurs stadium. An entire motorsport GP weekend was very far outside of my experience.
Hunter S Thompson’s infamous essay ‘The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved’ set the standard for what became known as “Gonzo journalism”. It was about a weekend which HST spent at the Kentucky Derby and it barely mentioned horse racing, it was more about what the punters got up to which can be described succinctly as “no good”. Thompson made himself part of the story, and the whole thing was very experiential and set the tone for his future career.
The event is at the Boughton Estate in Northamptonshire, not far from Kettering. As we arrive in the arena at 8am I realise that this event is as far from “decadent and debauched” as one can get. Many of the competitors are below the legal drinking age (more on that later), most paying attendees are trials riders themselves and very fit and healthy, and the entire space has the vibe of a health boot camp.
The arena itself houses the first and final trials (numbers 1 and 12 respectively), a stage, and vendor stalls and food trucks. There’s also a small practice area, and many competitors make their way in there on their bikes to warm up. Some are with their minders (a minder is like a second in boxing, the accompany the rider around the course, spot them on dangerous jumps, and sometimes coach or direct them). One minder is Emma Bristow, 10x world champion who dominated the sport for around a decade. My companion knows her, they chat, and she thanks him for his voluntary activities which are of huge importance to the grassroots of the sport.
There are two exits: one to the wooded area with trials 2 to 11, and one to the paddocks where the teams are camping, and their motorbikes and equipment are stored. We are very early so we get a coffee and take a stroll around the paddocks. My companion knows many of the British elite riders and their teams, and they greet each other as we stop to chat and look at their bikes as they prepare for the day’s contests.
Eventually, the action begins. There are five categories: level 3 men, level 2 women and men, and elite level (GP) women and men. Each rider gets onto the stage, in that order, the compere says some things about them, and then they set off around the 12 stages. They have to complete two entire circuits throughout the day. Each category’s trials are progressively more difficult, with the elite / GP ones sometimes appearing physically impossible.
How can one describe trials for the uninitiated? Each is a kind of obstacle course which the riders must complete in a minute. It’s like a cross between the most extreme stunt riding you’ve ever seen, rock climbing, and tough mudder, all on a specially built motorbike between 125cc and 300cc, without a seat. It is without a doubt one of the hardest sports there is, combining fitness, strength, and a very high level of skill.
We spend the day following the riders through the wooded area, each trial seemingly harder than the previous one. Many, including elite riders, fail some stages, and barely complete others. The standout, of course, is the great Toni Bou. He is a Spanish rider and by the end of the day he clinches his 38th world title: he has won both the indoor and the outdoor title for the past nineteen years, winning his first title as a teenager. He is now 38 and continues to dominate. Some of the things he does, the heights he scales, the sheer complexity of obstacles which he overcomes, defy logic and seeming science. What many other competitors struggle with, he can make seem effortless. He walks around every course before riding it, looking at each detail conferring with his minder. I am told that he trains and he trains, not only machine control but fitness and strength. He is truly one of the greatest athletes of all time. Will there ever be another like him? When I meet him afterwards, he is polite, charming and down to earth.
At the end of the day it’s podium time. Some of the winners are below the legal drinking age, so they open and splash alcohol-free champagne on the podium. There are some impressive victories. Spanish riders dominate the men’s elite rankings. Brits do well in some other categories. The mostly British crowd claps and cheers all winners, and the atmosphere is friendly and joyful.
Certainly in terms of the sporting achievement, the challenges and obstacles overcome, and the sheer skill level, I’ve never seen anything like it live. On TV, maybe, but that is not the same. It’s so different when you’re there among it all, surrounded by the sound of the machines, the shouts of the minders, the smell of the fuel… and when you get to meet, and shake hands with people who have achieved greatness, and actually get a first hand look at how they do that. What’s the takeaway? It’s straightforward: go and spectate some trials, at any level. If you are new to it, you’ll have your mind blown.
Blac Ridere 