Top local mountain biker Isaac Batty had a really busy September, the highlight of which was representing Team GB in the UCI World Mountain Bike Enduro Championships in Italy.

The event took place at Val Di Fassa in the Dolomites and Batty, despite only being aged 16, rode in the elite class.

He was only given two weeks’ notice and was competing in the World Cup Downhill race in Loudonville, Ohio the weekend before.

With very little budget left for the year, the World Cup Downhill race was challenging with lots of rain making the track treacherous. To make matters worse a crash during practice rendered his downhill bike out of action, leaving the only option he had was to attempt qualifying on a borrowed enduro bike.

The latter bike is no match for a World Cup downhill track, nevertheless he still managed a top 50 finish, which was quite remarkable.

The young Manxman then travelled to Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders to ride the last round of the British Enduro Mountain Bike series.

He finished runner-up in the under-18 class and eighth overall to secure the u18 series win. This was only a few weeks after becoming u18 British Enduro MTB Champion at the national championships. Isaac’s hard work and training, now guided by Elliot Baxter from A-Star Cycling, has really paid off.

In addition, Isaac needs to thank a lot of other people for their support this year, notably Orange Bikes, Limitless Cycles, Duke Travel, A-Star Cycling, Isle of Man Sport, FIM Capital, Utmost International and Steve at MRL for some emergency repair work at very short notice.