Saturday 16th September and Ben awoke to a misty outlook in Innerleithan, Scotland, after gaining a late entry to the final round of the SDA (Scottish Downhill Association) race series.

After taking a walk up and down the course, practice began in earnest. This track has more than its fair share of exposed tree roots waiting to catch riders out, and most did not go without some form of spill.

Race day arrived and after a short practice session it was time to jump on the cattle trucks for the uplift to the top of the hill, where riders join the queue in the correct order before being called up to the start gate.

Out of the start gate, riders go down through the trees on the wettest part of the course before crossing the first fire road and onto the fastest part of the track. Then into a short steep chute onto the second fire road and over to a steep part of the hill, twisting and turning with rocks, shale and loose mud making the bike drift away in the corners.

Concentration has to be at a peak for the final couple of bends before pedalling hard round the final berm and over the finish line.

Ben’s first run was marred by a crash on the top section of the course and he came home in a time of 4 minutes 20.22 secs, which he bettered with a second run time of 3:59.16 to finish 23rd out of 56 entries in the youth category.

This gave him a total of 105 points for the 2006 series and 21st place out of 86 entries.