'Busiest year' for rescuers sent to mountain bike crashes

A mountain rescue team in southern Scotland has seen a spate of callouts to help injured cyclists tackling trails in the area.

Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue Team (TVMRT) was most recently sent to the popular Glentress trails near Peebles on Wednesday - which the team described as a crash "hot spot" after it held the UCI Cycling World Championships last year.

Overall the team has had 67 callouts so far this year - likely to be its busiest on record - with a significant number of them to the popular bike trails in the Borders.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) - which runs Glentress - said it liaised regularly with emergency services to monitor any potential patterns or trends in accidents at the site.

In the latest incident it was involved in, TVMRT was called out to help a young biker injured on the Turn and Burn trail at the site.

The casualty was taken to a waiting ambulance.

Of the callouts recorded on its social media pages, about 50% have been to what TVMRT has called a "hot spot" at Glentress.

Spokesman Paul McGreal said: "This is the busiest year we have ever had as a team.

"A fair proportion of them are mountain bike incidents and a significant proportion of those are at Glentress.

"Mountain biking incidents are not exactly new - we have been experiencing this since mountain biking began."

However, he said the new trails at Glentress did appear to be the latest hot spot for such accidents.

He said they suspected it was connected to their popularity and the "sheer numbers" using them.

The callouts do put pressure on the volunteer service which has to raise about two-thirds of the £40,000-a-year it needs to run.

Mr McGreal stressed, though, that they would never discourage people from heading out on their bikes.

The site hosted part of UCI Cycling World Championships last year and underwent an upgrade to its routes as part of preparations.

FLS said its records showed there had been 27 accidents since the September last year - a "significant proportion" on its newer trails.

It said that these routes were aimed at developing rider skills and it was in the nature of the sport that some people might push themselves beyond their capabilities.

"This is not unique to Glentress and is a common experience for other land managers that have opened new mountain bike trails," said a spokesman.

"To help riders decide whether a trail is one that they can realistically cope with, we grade the waymarked trails we manage using an internationally-recognised system.

"We also provide clear information about the nature of the mountain biking offer at Glentress via signs at the point of entry for each trail, at our car parks, and at the core visitor hub facilities."

It said that staff regularly inspected the trails it managed to ensure they were in a safe condition.

"We liaise closely with the emergency services, investigate all accidents that are reported to us and monitor locations to spot any patterns or trends," added the spokesman.

"We have not encountered any trail condition or issue that is a root cause of any accidents."