Richard Cunynghame, a mountain bike racer and journalist, is watching the Mountain Bike World Championships in Fort William and writing about his experiences for BBC Sport.
photo:Sparko

With a damp but drying track, Thursday afternoon saw seeding for Downhill. After a day of practice on Wednesday, the racers had to put in a timed run to determine the running order for the finals.

In the Junior men's category, British rider Sam Dale had a massive crash on landing the jump that brings you into the last section of the track. It is the first sight of the riders that spectators have from the arena at the bottom of the track and not a place that you would want to have an incident like this. Sam had to be stretchered off but is now back on his feet with a few broken bones but luckily no neck injuries like was originally suspected.

Fellow junior GB team members Ruaridh Cunningham and Josh Bryceland faired a lot better, placing first and second. Ruaridh posted an impressive time that would have given him seventh in the senior category and Josh was only 1.29 seconds behind him.

The senior women's category saw a similarly impressive one two for the brits, with Rachel Atherton setting the fastest time in front Tracy Moseley. Rachel had an 8 second lead over Tracy and this can only boost her confidence for adding a Senior World Championship title to her Junior one. Current World Champion, Sabrina Jonnier was nearly 16 seconds back in fifth place.

The senior men's category had Greg Minnaar come out on top with a run that showed he was really going for it. Sometimes riders take it easy in seeding, either to save themselves or to take a bit of the pressure off for the finals by having an early start time. Reigning World Champion Sam Hill is one rider that did this, cruising down to take 24th. British rider Gee Atherton set a time a mere 0.06 behind Greg to put him in second. Brits Dan Stanbridge and Marc Beaumont also made the top ten while Steve Peat was back in 13th. Steve has been Britain's top rider for some time and despite winning numerous rounds of the World series has never gained the title of World Champion at this one off yearly event. His hopes of winning the title on home soil have been hindered a bit this year by a recent break of his ankle that is still not fully recovered. But Steve is a resilient rider and being able to place a respectable time in seeding proves that it still may be possible.

The finals will take place on Sunday.

Junior Women
1. PUGIN Floriane FRA 5:48.07
2. NICOLE Myriam FRA 5:56.90 +8.83
3. CURD Katy GBR 6:14.04 + 25.97
4. BUCHANAN Caroline AUS 6:28.96 + 40.89
5. MILLER Miranda CAN 6:36.23 + 48.16
6. LAPLANTE Anne CAN 6:55.01 +1:06.94
7. AGOSTINHO Aurea POR 6:59.39 +1:11.32
8. KERNOHAN-SMITH Holly NZL 7:00.29 +1:12.22
9. PINNEY Christina USA 8:28.17 +2:40.10

Senior Women
1. ATHERTON Rachel GBR 5:30.20
2. MOSELEY Tracy GBR 5:38.69 +8.49
3. RAGOT Emmeline FRA 5:43.42 + 13.22
4. HANNAH Tracey AUS 5:43.91 + 13.71
5. JONNIER Sabrina FRA 5:46.18 + 15.98
6. GASKELL Helen GBR 5:48.99 + 18.79
7. GROS C FRA 5:50.49 + 20.29
8. SANER Marielle SUI 5:53.64 + 23.44
9. SUEMASA Mio JPN 5:54.06 + 23.86
10. GRIFFITHS Fionn GBR 5:56.55 + 26.35
other
23. REES JONES Anja GBR 6:27.91 + 57.71

Junior Men
1. CUNNINGHAM Ruaridh GBR 5:05.12
2. BRYCELAND Josh GBR 5:06.41 +1.29
3. SMITH Steve CAN 5:09.26 +4.14
4. DELFS Mitchell AUS 5:10.27 +5.15
5. HUTCHENS Chris GBR 5:11.83 +6.71
6. BIGONI Joris FRA 5:14.60 +9.48
7. SCOLES Matthew NZL 5:16.32 + 11.20
8. BAIN Joel AUS 5:17.30 + 12.18
9. BUTTON Joshua AUS 5:18.94 + 13.82
10. HETHERINGTON David AUS 5:19.97 + 14.85
other
13. SMITH Joseph GBR 5:21.18 + 16.06
31. WILLIAMS Marcus GBR 5:39.24 + 34.12
34. MEARS Scott GBR 5:41.75 + 36.63
DALE Sam GBR DNF

Senior Men
1. MINNAAR Greg RSA 4:53.32
2. ATHERTON Gee 4:53.38 +0.06
3. CAMELLINI Julien FRA 4:57.20 +3.88
4. HANNAH Michael AUS 4:58.18 +4.86
5. PAYET Florent FRA 5:00.00 +6.68
6. RENNIE Nathan AUS 5:00.82 +7.50
7. BLENKINSOP Samuel NZL 5:01.16 +7.84
8. PASCAL Mickael FRA 5:02.53 +9.21
9. STANBRIDGE Dan GBR 5:03.41 + 10.09
10. BEAUMONT Marc GBR 5:04.37 + 11.05
11. PEDEMANAUD Fabien FRA 5:04.69 + 11.37
12. VAZQUEZ LOPEZ David ESP 5:04.94 + 11.62
13. PEAT Steve GBR 5:05.03 + 11.71
14. REID Ben IRL 5:05.05 + 11.73
15. DONOGHUE Neil GBR 5:05.07 + 11.75
16. LEHIKOINEN Matti FIN 5:05.12 + 11.80
17. CAVALIER Amiel AUS 5:05.43 + 12.11
18. BAREL Fabien FRA 5:05.51 + 12.19
19. STROBEL Luke USA 5:05.67 + 12.35
20. SPAGNOLO Damien FRA 5:05.83 + 12.51
other
22. ATHERTON Dan GBR 5:06.52 + 13.20
24. HILL Samuel AUS 5:07.09 + 13.77
58. FAIRCLOUGH Brendan GBR 5:29.47 + 36.15