A MALE mountain biker had to be rescued from the 'Make or Brake' section of the Downhill Track in Innerleithen on Sunday after sustaining injuries to his legs.

At 1210hrs on Sunday June, 24 the Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue Team (TVMRT) was paged by Lothian and Borders Police requesting that the Team provide assistance to the Scottish Ambulance Service in the evacuation of an injured mountain bike rider.

The first TVMRT Member arrived on scene at 1230, only 20 minutes after the initial call from the Police - the rest of the Team members followed shortly afterwards.

The rider, a male from Edinburgh in his twenties, had fallen from his bike and had sustained an injury to his left knee and a suspected fracture to his lower left leg.

Although the Ambulance Service were in attendance with two paramedics, the casualty's location made extraction difficult and TVMRT were tasked with evacuating the casualty to a location where a transfer could be made to a 'Road' ambulance for onward transportation to hospital.

Tweed Valley MRT have 40 team members who are unpaid but very highly trained volunteers, on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to render assistance to lost or injured people in mountainous or remote areas.

The man was soon recovered and taken to Borders General Hospital after being transferred to the Ambulance Service vehicle.

Steve Penny, TVMRT Team Leader, said: "The team is pleased to have been able to assist in the evacuation of this gentleman. This incident demonstrates once again that TVMRTs volunteers are able to mobilise to an incident in a very short period of time to provide assistance."

For more information or to find out how you can support Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue Team please log onto www.tweedvalleymrt.org.uk