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Skye Mountain Rescue urge cyclists: “Don't try and be like Danny MacAskill”

Call comes after female mountain biker broke leg in fall on island’s Cuillin Hills

​Skye Mountain Rescue have urged cyclists to not “try and be like Danny MacAskill” after a female mountain biker broke her leg in a fall on the island’s Cuillin Hills, reports BBC News.

The island has become an increasingly popular destination for riders thanks to the videos featuring the trials star, who was born on Skye, with one of his films shot there, The Ridge, gaining more than 50 million YouTube views.

It’s not clear from the BBC News report nor one in the West Highland Free Press whether the rider’s fall was actually from a bike, nor whether she was expressly trying to emulate the stunt ace.

But after rescuing the woman, a Swiss national, at the 2,000-foot Coire Lagan on Friday, a spokesman for Skye Mountain Rescue said: "We have been coming across people on bikes in places they shouldn't really be.

"Once they do get to these places they soon realise that in reality it is a very different prospect from what they thought it would be like.

"Our message is please don't try and be like Danny MacAskill."

The spokesman added that rescuers believed the woman may have been attempting stunts, saying: "She had the helmet and the knee pads."

She was taken from the mountain by winch from the Stornoway coastguard helicopter and treated at the MacKinnon Memorial Hospital in Broadford, and is now home in Switzerland recovering from her injuries.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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brooksby | 6 years ago
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Quote:

"Our message is please don't try and be like Danny MacAskill."

That would be (1) highly skilled, (2) famous, and (3) (hopefully) reasonably wealthy 

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rnick | 6 years ago
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Luckily she tried this abroad, where our volunteers plus public funded coastguards helped her off the hill for free. Had this been in the home country, a 6 figure bill would be enroute. Really, biking up the Cuillin- just leave it alone. Tough it up and take on the midges lower down the hill.

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DaveE128 | 6 years ago
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Oh, a mountain biker wearing helmet and knee pads. Must have been trying to be Danny MacAskill then. Obviously. Just like a hiker wearing hiking boots and some warm gloves must be attempting to be Ranulph Fiennes. And if it had been a bloke, would the headline have had "male" in it?

Just because someone had an accident doesnt mean they were being stupid mountain sports carry an element of risk and most people accept that. I wonder if mountain rescue tell rock climbers to stop doing dangerous things when they have to reacue them?

There may be people attempting things beyond their skill level on Skye, but nothing in the article actually demonstrates that this is the case.

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StraelGuy | 6 years ago
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StraelGuy | 6 years ago
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