Nico Vink knows what big, burly and full send means. So his stop of the Fest Series is always a highlight. Five events in, Royal Fest has gained both notoriety and grown from a motocross park, adding MTB to its full time roster.
Deep in the Tarn region in the south of France, Royal Hills was built back in 2011 to offer a unique moto experience, but Nico’s vision saw it host its first Fest event back in 2014. Come 2022, it’s now a full blown bike park, with a whole slew of new lines for more levels of riding than just the big hitters of the Fest Series! Apart from the moto and new bike park facilities, Royal Hills also offers luxurious accomodation making it an epic training and playground destination. But let’s not get too sidetracked from what went down. Strap yourself in for a wild ride, plus some epic sends from Remy Morton!
This year’s session at Royal Hills went down at the end of September. Having the Royal Hills playground to our disposal for 5 days with a rider list this heavy was an unreal experience. The main change from the previous years was that, in addition to the Fest lines, we now had two easier lines shouldering the Fest lines which allowed us to ride in less good weather conditions. Instead of waiting for the wind to drop, we were having a blast lapping the easier lines until the conditions were good enough to ride the main set.