Annie Last is smiling as she looks up at what appears to be a waterfall of sharp rocks down which, as Britain's leading female mountain biker, she will be expected to plunge during the Olympic final on August 11 when the Games come to this course at Hadleigh Farm in Essex.

Or it could be that this 21-year-old brainbox – she got straight As at A level and has a deferred place to read medicine at Sheffield University – was just squinting into the sun which has unexpectedly bathed this part of Britain on a day when, elsewhere, it is either chilly or indeed snowy.

This location, however, with a view clear over the Thames Estuary to Canvey Island, home to the world's largest, brightest and most outlandish domestic displays of Christmas lights – at least, that's how it appears whenever I have driven around it at Christmas time – is clearly in a microclimate.

Stephen Castle, the County Councillor who has welcomed our media throng to this invigorating edge of Essex, maintains joshingly that Hadleigh is the driest place in Britain. I am assured that this is true. It is certainly the driest place in Britain right now as the April sun beats down upon our faces and glorifies the huge clumps of yellow gorse which intersperse the snaking, plunging course around which riders from 36 countries will risk their reputations – and necks – this summer.

Seven months after a successful Olympic test event, the course has been altered so that it is now faster, smoother and more technically challenging. In fact, according to Martyn Salt, the London 2012 mountain bike manager, this is "the most challenging Olympic course ever constructed", not least because of its relentlessness. "It is technically very challenging, and there is almost no time to rest on it," he adds.


Matt Parker, of GB cycling, concurs with the view that this is the toughest course ever presented to Olympic riders. As far as Last is concerned, however, he points out that this is nothing but good news as, even this early in her career, she is already regarded as one of the most accomplished technical riders on the circuit.

At the last mountain bike World Cup in March, at the Pietermaritzburg venue in South Africa, Last finished in the top 10, having led the race for almost half of the five circuits. Having won silver medals in the European and World Under-23 Championships last year, the young woman from Derbyshire has established herself in the senior ranks, even if she is not yet among the favourites for Olympic medals.

Realistically, Parker would expect Last to be first – or near offer – in the first half of the Olympic final, although it may be too much to expect her to maintain `a medal position in the closing stages as her more experience rivals – and most female mountain bikers peak at around 26 or 27 – make their moves.

"There are going to be 20,000 people on the course, and it would provide most of them with something to cheer about," Parker says. "And if you have 20,000 people supporting you, you just never know what might happen."

But what about Last? We'd better get back to her, as the sun is still shining in her eyes.

"I enjoy technical courses," she says, as one of her GB colleagues makes his way carefully down through the dusty and jagged landscape, one of two such "rock gardens" on the course. "I think that having a tough Olympic course is going to be really good for me."


Last (pictured) is set on being in or close to the lead when the women's Olympic race – there is just a straight final – gets underway. "If you can get to the front it is so much easier," she says. "You have a clear race, and you don't have to worry about riders falling in front of you.

"But then again, if someone goes ahead and you don't think they are going to maintain the pace, it is not worth going with them or you will both blow up. Sometimes if you push too hard on the course, you might end up gaining a couple of seconds but it has taken so much effort that it is not worth it, particularly in a race which takes one and a half hours."

Obviously it will be a big advantage to arrive at the top of the rock fall by which we are standing with a clear view of it rather than having to follow riders who will be choosing their own routes down. But that may not be a luxury Last can rely on.

"When I get to the top of this in the final I might have an idea of what line I will take but I could have to take a different line if there are other riders around. You have to make up your mind in a split second when you are racing."

So are we looking at what will turn out to be mountain biking's very own Beechers Brook just over 100 days down the line?

Another smile. "You will probably see some falls, although they will tend to come from among the riders trying to catch up with the leading ten or so in front. That is when more mistakes are made because in that position you don't get to race your own race. That's why I want to up near the front – I want to be able to race my own race."


Looking back up the rockfall, I can't help thinking that the sensible mountain biker on the day will simply run down the grassy slopes either side of it. Certainly that is what I would do if I were asked to compete in the Olympic mountain bike final, although it is more likely that I would call in saying that I was refusing to race without stabilisers.

Such tactics, of course, will be both illegal and impractical. As Salt explains, all the riders will have to remain within the confines of the course, which will, for the first time in the Olympics, be marked by a succession of upturned "brushes" – wider at the top than the bottom, and branded in a colour which I would like to tell you about but as it is a special London 2012 colour I couldn't possibly write about it without having nightmares of footsteps on the stairs at 3am. Besides which, no one at London 2012 would tell me.

But anyway, these brushes will not only prevent people doing the mountain bike equivalent of riding on the pavement – they will also allow cameras, and indeed the 20,000 spectators who will be allowed to roam over these hillsides like so many sheep, to get a clearer view of the action than in any previous Games, where the course has been bounded by tapes and mini fences. It's looking good at Hadleigh Farm – and the looking will be good too.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the past five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames. Rowbottom's Twitter feed can be accessed here.