Scottish mountain biker first woman to complete tough downhill race
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, on Saturday.
In the event's 11 years, a female rider has never completed the course – hailed as one of the toughest downhill mountain bike races in the world – in full.
The run is well known due to the scale of its jumps and the challenging terrain.
On Sunday, Louise made history by battling slippery conditions to complete the run, becoming the first ever rider to win the women's category in the event's history.
She beat some of the world's best female riders including Vaea Verbeeck, Kirsten Van Horne, Cami Nogueira and Hannah Bergemann.
Ferguson, currently ranked 14th in the world, recently won the British National Championships the week before attending Red Bull Hardline UK for the second time.
She said to get through the finish line was the 'craziest feeling'.
'It doesn't feel real, to be honest'.
'I'm just taking it all in, and I'm super proud and happy with the effort. I can't explain how nervous I was at the top, so to get through to the finish line was just the craziest feeling. It was super greasy at the top – some of the guys are making it look easy, but it's not.'
'It's hard to explain how much it means to achieve this. The other girls have definitely got this and I would've loved to have come down with them.
'I know it's just a matter of time and it's going to be something I can do with them in the future. To see them at the finish means so much. The support is unreal and our community is something else. I'm just so happy.'
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BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Fan reaction to Scottish Premiership's opening weekend
"Brutal", a "miserable victory", and no need for Scottish Premiership returned this weekend and brought with it drama and intrigue across the Russell Martin's scathing post-match comments to Falkirk's return to the top flight after 15 years, there were more storylines than you could shake an empty pie ashet the season, BBC Scotland will be asking you for your views on the action through our live pages. Here is a selection of what you made of the opening weekend's action. 'Brutal' Rangers draw with 'positive' Motherwell Rangers fans were left frustrated after their side conceded late on and only drew with Same old Rangers, can't close a game Pathetic performance, not enough skill in the team to play Russell Martin's way. Too laboured on the ball - too slow in thought and action. After this display and the coach's words I am really worried for this season. Top-six Poor show. I was not inspired by the choice of manager nor have I been impressed by the new signings. I wouldn't be surprised if we finish fourth, never mind second. Lack of determination to A new season and a new manager with new players, but the same old performance. Nothing new that wasn't there last season, poor passing, poor kick outs, and, considering the amount of corners, only one goal. Shocking. The same old excuses that we have heard before many It's very early, but I would be surprised if this Rangers team put in a challenge for the league title. Very Motherwell supporters were delighted with what they We are going to be a joy to watch this season! A superb second half saw us snatch a well deserved point. If we play like that all season we could be a real problem for other Superb. We fell away in the first half but the second half was tremendous. Like watching a new team. Effort and refusing to lie down, a new Delighted with our approach and mentality. Bravery and a will to try. Still plenty aspects to improve, but if we play like that every week, we will win more than we An inspiring start! Can totally see what Jens Berthel Askou is trying to do. A few nervous moments initially but once they settled down it went well. Struggle to recall a better opening Incredible performance from Motherwell and so unlucky not to win in the dying moments! We are going to be very fun to watch this season. Bring on St This was positive. Motherwell put Rangers on the back foot, which is not usual in these games. St Mirren 'dropped three points' against 'lethargic' Celtic Celtic fans were left with mixed emotions despite Luke McCowan's late goal earning them three points over St Mirren at Yet another miserable 1-0 victory in the final minutes. Can't disguise the deficiencies in the Celtic team – and in Brendan Rodgers' tactics. Negative, robotic football that will again result in several heavy defeats in St Mirren worked hard at their game plan and nearly got a point. Credit to the players for remaining calm and getting the reward for the perseverance. Onwards now for the Good performances across the park but found it difficult against a St Mirren team which has performed so well and competitively in the League Cup. Kieran Tierney was great, but needs to work on his fitness. All the pieces are there, we just need to find a way of fitting them Not the best performance but a win is a win. Fair play to St Mirren, they defended well. We need more attacking options. Adam Idah and Yang Hyun-jun aren't good enough. Says it all that only two of our six signings kicked a I am unsure if Celtic are lethargic or arrogant? Trying to walk the ball in with no real conviction. Fair play to St Mirren for not allowing the game to be dictated to them Brendan Rodgers has created a lot of negativity with that press conference the other day. He's a top coach but his ego is off the scale. I want us to sign players but he paid over £20m for Idah and Arne Engels, that's outrageous. Engels is like a fish up a Mirren fans were heartened by their performance against the This was a game played by two very good sides. I thought St Mirren at times rode their luck but they certainly deserved a point. Their defending was excellent and a work ethic to give the supporters a great deal of hope in the weeks to come. It was despairing to lose by a late deflected Three points dropped by St Mirren… They really should be doing better against poor opponents like A disciplined performance, we rode our luck for sure. Thought we were going to hold on. The Celtic subs made all the difference, I wish James Forrest would retire! 'Professional' Hearts 'outhustle' Aberdeen Hearts opened their league account with a 2-0 win over Aberdeen and supporters are optimistic about the season ahead under Derek Thoroughly professional performance, looked strong in every department and have a physicality to dig in when required. McInnes has been flawless since his Always good to start a new season with a win, especially at home. Much more incisive and quicker to move the ball forward than last season. Expect us to do even better once the new squad settles The most hungry, aggressive and solid as I've seen Hearts in a Hearts looked more hungry than Aberdeen. Every player worked for each another and looked like there was togetherness about the team. We need a creative midfielder to complement the eager workers. If Bloom can conjure up the final piece of the jigsaw, we could have an exciting supporters weren't impressed by the display at First half was awful from the Dons. Could see the difference in quality and also competitiveness in the Hearts team. Second half got a bit better, but Kusini Yengi has to score his chance. Nicolas Milanovic looked decent and was the only I think it's going to be a long season as I don't believe we have enough striking options to win crucial games like last Aberdeen were outhustled from the start. Hearts wanted it more and we looked off the pace and the need for a goal scorer is even more evident now - hopefully Yengi can get on the goal trail soon as this wasn't his finest Badly need a proven striker. Splash the cash and bring Bojan Miovski back. Sivert Nilsen should be nowhere near the team - Ante Palaversa is far better. Topi Keskinen still poor - Shayden Morris should be starting. Falkirk fans upbeat, United will 'struggle' for top six Falkirk earned a point against Dundee United on their return to the top-flight and fans were pleased with the Excellent performance by newcomers against the fourth-placed side last season. A couple of defensive errors proved costly. This performance augurs well for the season Well done the Bairns. If we can sort defence, we will be All in all a great advert for Scottish football, but from our perspective I thought we were the better team. Now it's time to work on the point gained, a more clinical edge in front of goal and maybe we could've gone back home with three Point was a fair result. Disappointed in the two goals we conceded but we kept going and played some decent stuff in what was a good game of fans singled out midfielder Panutche Camara for praise after the 2-2 Dundee United will struggle for a top-six finish with that defence and goalkeeper. Panutche Camara was brilliant to watch. Best player on the Three games in and we are sitting with two wins in Europe and an away draw in the league opener. Hardly a crisis!Kenny: Much better. Camara had a great game and we were unlucky not to pick up all three points. A good shift from the whole team and a definite step up in attitude and application. Two great goals! 'Relegation fodder' Dundee and steady Hibs Hibernian bounced back from their aggregate defeat by Midtjylland to beat Dundee Travelled to Dundee with my son, hoping that Hibs could start the league season strongly after the disappointment of Thursday. Great to see Hibs hit the ground running and could easily have scored four or five against a poor Dundee. Hopefully we can push on and get points on the board early. Very happy with the direction the club is Good win considering we went to extra-time on Thursday Don't need fireworks on day one, just three points. Dundee fans are fearful for the season ahead after another defeat under head coach Steven On the basis of the three Dundee games that I've watched, including today's, there is no doubt in my mind that we are already relegation fodder. We look weak all over the park, there is no fight in the team when Murray isn't playing, and we seem to be content playing for low-scoring defeats. This season has disaster written all over Hibs won in second gear. Pressley is deluded in his post-match comments. Nelms at the helm is destroying Dundee. As a so-called US "businessman", I would expect elements of success and improvement. Instead, we are rock bottom with the worst ground in the league. We deserve Dundee are awful. Relegated by February. No creativity at all. Couldn't even get the substitutes on I have supported Dundee for over 55 years and I can honestly say this is the worst set I have ever seen at this club and the future certainly doesn't look rosy. Time machine Killie, Livi 'should have won' Kilmarnock fans were left frustrated after their side let a two-goal lead slip against Livingston following George Stanger's red It was like going back in time to last season, come on Killie get it sorted out before it becomes normal to throw away points. It stops now, no more A good first half performance, but a disappointing second half. The red card and penalty made a big difference, however, Killie were on the back foot most of the second half. There are some positives, but the overarching feeling is that we still have work to do, and we need more cover defensively!James: Very disappointed to only draw the game. For all their possession Livi didn't create many chances. The game turns on the penalty. A very frustrating result but we did well in the first half and scored two good goals. I feel we need to beef up the central defence and New season, new manager, some new players in, yet once again it's the same as last season on too many occasions, another red the other hand, Livi supporters took positives from the We will surprise some people. A lot of fans of other sides have us finishing 12th. I think, or is it really hope, that we will get a top-six finish. That may very well be sixth, but I would love to see a top-five finish and a chance for Robbie Muirhead will be key for us this season up top but so will Jerome Prior at the other other end of the pitch along with Danny Wilson and Ryan McGowan but for me Graham Carey will be our surprise package this season, he's very A game Livi should have won, but Killie managed to score two quick goals.
Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
6 pundits react to Tony Bloom's Hearts statement of intent as Old Firm accusation made
Here's how some of Scottish football's pundits reacted to the bold claims by the Hearts investor. Sign up to our Hearts newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... He's made his feelings on Hearts known - and Tony Bloom's comments have caused quite the Scottish football stir. The Brighton and Hove Albion owner was in situ at Tynecastle on Monday night as Derek McInnes' side beat Aberdeen 2-0 in the Premiership opener. While action on the park eventually took precedence, much of the debate came from Bloom's bold comments pre match. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad After agreeing to invest £9.86m in the Edinburgh club and gaining a 29% stake, Bloom wants to replicate success he's had at Royal Union Saint Gilloise by ending Rangers and Celtic dominance in Scotland. With his help, the Belgians have risen rapidly and won the top flight in Belgium, with Hearts title glory wanted within the next decade. He said: 'It's very difficult to be confident of winning a title or cup in any one season. I'm supremely confident that, over the next five years, Hearts will have an extremely good squad competing near the top of the league. Whether we are actually good enough to win the title, there are obviously no guarantees on that. But I will be very disappointed if, in the next 10 years, we don't win at least one league title. What excites me is bringing in really good players, watching Hearts win games, I'm addicted to winning, success, and winning titles and that's what I want to see happen here at Tynecastle.' It's caused debate over whether this is actually possible, and whether this ambition should be applauded. Here's how some Scottish football pundits have reacted. Kris Boyd (Sky Sports) 'It works everywhere else. It's snobbery from Scottish football to think it won't work because we have two huge clubs here. For him to come out and says he can turn this around very quickly, suggests to me he doesn't really see Rangers or Celtic, especially Rangers as he's totally dismissed them, as any threat to them. He will feel with the analytics he can thrown down a challenge. It's ignorance from Scottish football to think it can't be done. It's worked everywhere else.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Chris Sutton (Sky Sports) 'Really, really bullish. Really bold. He has a track record of improving clubs and he feels because of the analytics, he can get on the right side of them and win, pushing the likes of Celtic. There will be a lot of scepticism.' Craig Levein (Sportsound) 'It would need certain conditions I think for Hearts to get there. I mean, it would need an almost perfect season on Hearts' part and one of the Old Firm to underperform. I think that the the fact is that the money that the two Old Firm teams have, even though Tony Bloom's putting money in here at Hearts, I still think they'll be quite a way ahead in the financial front so it's going to be tough. But I mean, if anybody can do it, I think Hearts under Derek McInnes can. I think they've got a chance. James McFadden (Sky Sports) 'If they are going to challenge for the title and realise what Tony Bloom is saying, the analytics are solely going to be the reason they close that gap. Financially I don't think they will ever be able to compete with Rangers or Celtic. I don't think they want to as they have been in trouble at different times and don't want to be again. When it was first floated, people scoffed at it. If it was an unknown coming in you'd more say let's see how this works, probably more on the side of cynicism. It's proven to work. It's not going to be an instant success but there's no doubt it works. I expect it to work here at Hearts.' Willie Miller (Sportsound) 'We can only wish him well to be perfectly honest. I think it's going to be a huge task and I think particularly when you're talking about titles. I think cup competitions are completely different absolutely as I think the cup competitions are there to be won won of games etc and anything can be done. Nobody gave Aberdeen any chance whatsoever in the Scottish Cup and they managed to turn it around on the day and lift the trophy. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'The only problem, well it's not the only problem, but I think when you're trying to dislodge Rangers and Celtic, I think I think Hearts in particular and Hibs and Aberdeen, these are the teams that should be trying to disrupt the Old Firm. These are the teams with the biggest funds behind them. The biggest pool of players as well, strongest pool of players too. So there is a responsibility for them to make it difficult for Rangers and Celtic. I love people with ambition of knocking the top teams and and giving them a bit of a black eye but it's going to be difficult.' Alan Rough (PLZ) 'It's a good thought to spice it up a bit but I don't think his £10m will make an effect on Rangers and Celtic even in 10 years time. I hope he is right to a certain extent as we do like a bit of challenge in the league. He will have to put in more money year on year. I'd love to know Derek McInnes' reply to that, it has put a bit of pressure on him.'
Scottish Sun
3 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Rangers' partner club SUSPEND players' salaries amid major uncertainty over their league's future
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) ONE of Rangers' partner clubs have announced they've suspended the salaries of their players and staff. It comes amid major uncertainty over the future of their league - a league that several former Light Blues stars feature in. Sign up for the Rangers newsletter Sign up 4 Bengaluru FC have been successful in the Indian Super League Credit: AFP 4 The club entered into a partnership with Rangers in 2019 Credit: Willie Vass - The Sun Rangers first entered into a partnership with Indian club Bengaluru FC in 2019. It saw the Gers take an 'active presence' in the football market in the country as well as strengthening scouting links. The clubs remain partners to this day, as part as Rangers' international soccer academy. But Bengaluru appear to be facing a bit of an uncertain future - with the status of their entire league up in the air. The Indian Super League is scheduled to get under way on September 12 for the 2025/26 season. But in June, the company who operate the league - Football Sports Development Limited (FDSL) - announced that the league had been put 'on hold'. This was due to a stall in contract talks between FDSL and the AIFF, India's football governing body. The country's Supreme Court became involved and asked the AIFF not to renew the master rights agreement with the company. The current deal is due to expire in early December. The AIFF will meet Indian Super League clubs on Thursday this week to discuss the situation and the future of the league. Russell Martin doubles down on Rangers squad criticism Amid the ongoing uncertainty, Rangers' partner club Bengaluru have paused many of their operations. The three-time champions announced they were suspending all first team salaries. The club also called for a resolution to the ongoing impasse. In a statement, they said: "In view of the uncertainty surrounding the future of the Indian Super League season, Bengaluru Football Club has taken what is a very difficult decision of indefinitely suspending the salaries of players and staff belonging to the first team. "Running and sustaining a football club in India has always been an uphill climb, one that we have put everything aside and made, season after season. "However, the lack of clarity on the league's future leaves us with no choice but to take this step. 4 "The future and well-being of our players, staff and their families is of utmost importance to us and we are in touch with them as we wait for a resolution. "The club remains committed to growing and developing the sport and our operations with our youth teams - men and women - and BFC Soccer Schools remain unaffected by this decision. "We urge the AIFF and FDSL to end this impasse swiftly. "The uncertainty benefits no-one and a prompt resolution is vital for the future of Indian football." The league's uncertainty leaves the futures of several familiar faces to Scottish football fans in limbo. Ex-Hibs, Rangers and Dundee striker Jason Cummings stars for the current champions Mohun Bagan and is one of the top paid players in the league. Former Hibs striker Jamie Maclaren and Scotland youth cap Tom Aldred also play for the same club. 4 Jason Cummings plays in India for Mohun Bagan Credit: Getty Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
