Six downhill mountain bike racers are working toward their Business And Technology Education Council qualifications in a unique program at Borders College in Scotland this year. Two of the six riders are pros and all race at the national level which means they need to devote serious time to their training which a traditional program might now allow.

The one-of-a-kind module combines course work in psychology, coaching, and sports nutrition which should help students both on the trail and off. Plus the students get a great education they can fall back on should their downhill MTB careers not work out.

These days it takes a lot to reach the top of the sport in mountain biking and training is basically 24×7 for the pros. What you eat, how long you sleep, how you practice, and what you learn all go toward reaching the podium. The athletes at Borders College admit as much and say the classes are especially helpful in addressing the psychological and mental aspects of downhill racing.

Now if only more colleges offered decent mountain biking scholarships…

Rider Sam Hill photo courtesy fortwilliamworldchamps.co.uk.

This weekend more than 20,000 spectators turned out to watch the MTB World Cup competition at Fort William, Scotland which, I’m told, was voted the best mountain bike event in the world 3 years in a row.

Greg Minaar won the men’s downhill event for the second year in a row and Sabrina Jonnier from France won the women’s title. Gee Atherton, who along with Greg Minaar, recently competed in the World Indoor MTB Championship :), took fourth in the real-world downhill competition.

In 4-cross, Australian Jared Graves took first for the men while American Jill Kintner won the women’s race.