The chainsaws are cooling, the axes sheathed and the stone is settling – the 24 Hours of Exposure UK Solo Championship course is complete.

Thanks to a massive joint effort between Rock UK, Forestry Commission Scotland and 7Stanes the fantastic, new all-weather linking trails are in place and ready for the hundreds, possibly thousands of laps due to be ridden on them this weekend. A huge amount of work has gone into creating these new sections of trail with a longterm plan to fully link the existing Newcastleton 7Stanes trails to the village centre trail head. Fortunately for us all the work has been completed in time for the event to create one of the most challenging and scenic 24 hour race courses ever seen in the UK.

The 18km (11.5mile) lap has 548m (1800ft) of climbing starting with a lung-busting climb from the bottom of the former BMX track at Rock UK, winding up through dense larch and across open land to join the 7Stanes trails and the flowing, switchback-laden 3km red route singletrack descent.

From almost the lowest point on the course the fireroad then climbs up to the highest point at the top of the Quarry singletrack descent – filled with plenty of drops, jumps and rock steps to keep riders on their toes. Time for a bit of recovery on the fireroad drag before turning back for more swooping singletrack down to Priesthill car park and then the final grassy pull up past the Iron Age fort to the top of Priest Hill, making sure to take a moment to enjoy the stunning Scottish scenery (if my heart had stopped pounding and my vision wasn’t blurry I’d have taken a photo!) before the final fast descent back to the camp site and through the arena.

Despite my pathetic 1 hour 25 minute lap time the course is riding in well and the ground is hard after an excellent few weeks of May weather. Today was supposed to be the ‘wet day’ this week but this seemed to manifest in low mist on the highest point, so it’s looking good for the weekend.

So with just a few days to go until the first ever 24-hour solo mtb champion is crowned, the expectation is growing and there’s an air of excitement in the village with a large turnout expected for the village centre start and preparations being made for a number of spectators around the race course over the weekend.

The £4k prize pot is also increasing with a gorgeous set of Bontrager Race X-Lite tubeless ready wheels and a singlespeed conversion kit on offer for the singlespeed winner and the addition of an attractive set of prizes from our newest sponsor, Ergon.

Lots more information on the website, www.24hoursolo.co.uk as well as details on how to enter. Entry closes on Thursday so there’s still time to be part of this new event.