A teenager has been “seriously injured” in the fifth incident at Tarland Trails in the past three weeks.
The mountain biking centre in Aberdeenshire has seen a surge in people coming to it since it reopened last month, with new courses of varying difficulty.
Braemar Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) were called out to reports of an injured mountain biker.
The 14-year-old boy had been riding down the “moderate” blue course known as Holy Cow before coming off his bike, resulting in a broken shoulder blade.
The eight-man MRT, the Scottish Ambulance Service and the Coastguard helicopter were dispatched to the scene.
Due to the stress of the aircraft arriving, three lambs died in a nearby field with Tarland Trails pledging to compensate the farmer for the loss – and hold talks about issues at the site.
Latest injury at Tarland Trails
Due to his injury, the cyclist was taken by ambulance to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for treatment on Sunday.
It is the fifth call-out to Tarland Trails in three weeks for Braemar MRT, most sustaining injuries while riding the blue trail.
It is considered the least difficult of the three courses, with red being rated “difficult” and black “extreme”.
Malcolm MacIntyre, operations manager for Braemar MRT, said: “Tarland Trails is a new trail centre, it has only been open for about three weeks, but it is proving to be incredibly popular.
“Whenever they build a new trail centre, they up the quality and standard of the trails.
“There are clean runs, but they are also quite fast, and in places quite steep, and it reflects the huge demand that there is for mountain biking these days, particularly in Deeside where up until Tarland was opened there really wasn’t anything available except trails that people would find themselves.”
“It’s become a bit of a mecca for mountain bikers in the area, and I think it’s because of the numbers of people coming, that there has been a few accidents.”
A spokesman for Tarland Trails said: “Tarland Trails Pittenderich has had nearly 5000 visits in its first month.
“The project has been a massive success with riders travelling from as far as London to experience Aberdeenshire’s first purpose built trail centre.
Appeal to slow down on course.
“While we have had five casualties at the trails requiring assistance this is a very small percentage of the overall visits.
“We have trails that cater from easier blues to much harder black lines. As with all adventure sports it’s possible to have a mishap on even the easiest terrain when fatigue and excitement kick in.”
Mr MacIntyre and Tarland would urge people to slow down and get used to the trails so they are well aware and know how to handle any difficult sections.
While there have been several incidents at Tarland, Mr MacIntyre notes the numbers are “not unusual” to other centres.
Tarland Trails acknowledged via social media that it was still “early days”, and they were “working hard to get things right”.
A spokesman added: “We wish the casualties a speedy recovery and look forward to welcoming them back when they are at full strength.”
Unfortunately, due to the presence of the helicopter at the weekend, three lambs in a nearby field died due to stress and panic.
Tarland Trails said they were “deeply saddened” by this and were arranging a meeting with landowners and farmers to resolve any issues.
Conversation