Louise Ferguson reaches Hardline Wales finals to make history

Scottish mountain biker Louise Ferguson has made history by reaching Sunday’s finals of Red Bull Hardline Wales.

The 29-year-old from Fort William, who is based in New Zealand, became the first female rider to qualify in the history of the event, which is held in the Dyfi Valley.

In the event’s 11 years, a female rider has never completed the course in full – mainly due to the scale of the jumps and challenging terrain.

Elite women’s rider Tahnee Seagrave invites riders to compete at Hardline Wales and posted on social media that she was “so proud” to see the women giving it their all at the event and to see Ferguson complete the qualifying stage.

A “super happy” Ferguson described her accomplishment as a “relief” and hopes to see more women competing with her next year, and says they are getting closer to a standalone women’s race at the event.

“I wasn’t sure if we’d ever get to do all of the features, I really feel like we’re making progress,” she said

“Tahnee Seagrave has put in so much effort to get us here. We’ve had so much support and this is finally achieving some of the goals we set.”