UCI Mountain Bike World Cup 2010!

No matter what part of the world you come from, you could not consider last weekend’s weather anything short of scorching - at least it was in Fort William, where mountain bikers from all over the world gathered to compete in the UCI Mountain Bike world Cup.

This annual event, which has been held in Fort William since 2002, is possibly the biggest summer gig after music festivals. Saying that the boundary between a sporting and music event has been narrowed this year as the World Cup had a rock and roll theme. This involved a Scottish guitarist appearing in unusual places while hitting out head turning solos. Edinburgh band Dirty Modern Hero performed on stage on Saturday which really brought the rock and roll theme to life.

Besides live music the Mountain Bike World Cup also offered: a round in the British Trials Championships, side shows from a bike stunt team, a bike skill area for young kids and even a massive bouncy castle style air-bag to try your own daredevil stunts. One of the pictures here shows a guy attempting a back flip onto the airbag! If you missed the airbag last weekend there will be another chance to try it at Glentress Forest this Sunday.

The two mountain bike disciplines being battled out in Fort William were 4-Cross and Downhill.

For those who are unfamiliar with the disciplines, Downhill, as the name suggests, involves cycling down a hill. However it is not as straightforward as enjoying the scenery while gravity takes control. It is a time trial race, where competitors pedal as fast as they can during their run and launch themselves over huge boulders and jumps with specially designed bikes. The results can be catastrophic with severe injuries and snapped frames a common occurrence at any Downhill race!

4-Cross is a much shorter down hill sprint than Downhill, but compensates with more aggression as four riders tear into the berms and jumps at the same time in a head to head race. There are few rules in 4-Cross, so the riders show little regard for each other's welfare in this charged battle to the finish line, inevitably resulting in crowd stunning crashes.

The young Scot, Ben Cathro (22), who was anticipated to perform well, lived up to the expectation. He was 0.66 seconds up on the race leader approaching the finish when disaster struck - his chain snapped - forcing him to free wheel the last 50 meters which landed him 19th just behind the favourite, Steve Peat. Obviously the favourite did not win; neither did the other highly respected challenger Sam Hill who was forced out due to a crash while practicing. The UK's Gee Atherton took gold and set a new course record, 555 meters in 4 minutes 35.7 seconds!

In the woman's Downhill Gee's sister Rachel Atherton was expected to take the gold after qualifying fastest but lost 2 seconds in the last section of the course allowing the French competitor Sabrina Joiner to secure first position.

In the men's 4X, the Australian Jared Graves retained his title as Fort Williams fastest for the third year in a row. In the woman's event, last year's winner Jill Kintner was not present to defend her title so a new winner was inevitable. This turned out to be Jana Horakova of the Czech Republic.

The best of the weekend's action is available to view at freecaster.tv.

Andrew Greer

Last modified: 08/06/2010 16:01:11