PARENTS ARE BEING REMINDED to take great care when walking with young children around the ‘Moray Monster Trails’ mountain bike track near Fochabers.
The Trails are on Forestry Commission land at Ordiequish and are famed throughout the sport as being amongst the toughest and most thrilling tests of their skills.
However, one rider – Rob Smedley – has warned that the dangers of the twists, turns and bumps on the challenging courses are not the only danger they face.
This weekend, Rob was in full flow on the trail when coming over a hill he was met by the frightening sight of a young child walking along the track in front of him.
Rob explained: “I was horrified that as I came over the wee girl was right in the middle of the track.
“Parents need to be aware of the dangers of allowing children a free run over these trails, I was fortunate enough to be able to stop in time but that may not always be the case.
“These trails are designed to be fast – parents really have to be aware that the trails are designed for mountain bikes – if I had been going over a jump there would have been very little that I could do about it.”
Rob had his on-bike video running at the time and the child’s parent could be seen in the distance walking along the trail with a dog.
insideMoray received a copy of Rob’s video but chose not to use it lest it identified the child. We urge parents who visit Ordiequish to keep their children or pets close and are aware of the dangers at all times.