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Inverness Royal Academy to open mountain bike skills course on its grounds with the grand opening on Saturday





Inverness Royal Academy: mountain bike skills course begins to take shape. Courtesy: Duncan Macpherson
Inverness Royal Academy: mountain bike skills course begins to take shape. Courtesy: Duncan Macpherson

Inverness Royal Academy will stage the grand opening of its newly finished mountain bike trail this Saturday marking the culmination of efforts going back almost four years.

The ribbon will be cut at 10am on the 600 metre course featuring three separate tracks including jumps, drop-offs and berms, rollers and rock gardens, to improve riders skills and balance.

Those attending can then “ride the trails, compete in the style competitions with guest judges, demo a bike from Monsterbike, plant a tree to mark the occasion with Culduthel Community Woods or help Trash Free Trails with a trail clean”.

The school said that there are options for all abilities and some “may even feature in a film from Aimi Kenyon in conjunction with Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland (DMBinS)”.

The project was by PE teacher Jane Chisholm and the work was done by Ronan Taylor of ‘Raylors Trail Design’ from the Black Isle is leading the project with heavy machinery spotted on site in September converting an existing path and grass banking area into a coaching area for off-road biking.

The cost of the work is at least £40,000 and the project was among the first of nine to receive investment from the £8 million Cycling Facilities Fund distributed by the Scottish Government and SportScotland.

The Mountain Bike Skills Loop project received £40,000 towards the work, with Highland Council also funding it – but the local authority has been reluctant to reveal how much it is paying despite being asked.



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