TWO brothers from Machynlleth have been making their mark in the mountain bike racing world.

Last year, Nathan and Ruben de Vaux were raising money for their races. Several local companies stepped forward, with Dyfi Bike Park offering free uplifts to help them train locally and Cambrian Tyres supplying them with the new Gravity range of Continental Tyres.

Later in the year, when Nathan broke his bike just before the British Championships, Machynlleth-based Atherton Bikes lent him one of their top spec bikes.

At the start of 2022, Nathan, 13, also received a SportsAid award under the Backing The Best scheme to help with the cost of race entries, travel and accommodation, coaching and equipment.

This ensured that he could get coaching from World Cup racer Jack Reading as well as taking part in all five rounds of the British National Downhill Series, the National Championships at Glencoe and the Pearce Downhill Series.

He rose to the challenge by securing two second places, one third and one fourth at the Nationals in the Juvenile category (13 to 14-year-olds), claiming 3rd place overall in the series.

He won Bronze at the British Championships and holds the title of Welsh Champion. He is also overall winner of the Pearce Downhill Series with three wins and one second place.

Ruben (just turned 12) started the year very well with two second places in Rippers category (10 to 12-year-olds) in Mini Downhill events at the Forest of Dean and Berwyn.

Unfortunately, he had a crash at Dyfi Bike Park in April which resulted in a broken collarbone. Straight after he had fully healed and resumed training, he had another crash injuring his pelvis.

It was July before he was able to ride again, by which time British Cycling had approved his application to race up in the next age category (Juvenile). This meant that he could take part in a couple of Pearce Downhill Series events where he finished in the top 20 as well as the Welsh Championships where he finished fifth.

Towards the end of the season, a bit of money was left from the SportsAid grant which enabled the family to travel to Austria to take part in the Rookies Cup and the International Rookies Championships in Schladming. Ruben raced in his own age category there and finished 8th in both races, in a huge field of over 40 riders.

Nathan had an eventful weekend at Schladming with lots of crashes.

In practice, he injured his shoulder. Undeterred, he took part in the Rookies Cup but had a huge crash which resulted in a wrist injury and a DNF (Did Not Finish).

However, he was adamant he would race the International Rookies Championships the following day.

With a borrowed wrist brace and a taped up shoulder, he took to the start line as the first rider due to finishing last the day before.

It had begun raining, making track conditions quite slippery and challenging. Nathan still put an incredibly fast time down that none of the subsequent riders were able to challenge, until the sun had started to dry the track out and the last three riders were still at the top of the mountain.

In the end, Nathan finished in 4th place out of over 60 riders. His wrist was put in a cast at the next day though and he is currently being treated by the orthopaedic team at Bronglais Hospital.

The two brothers are looking forward to training hard in the winter months to get fully back to speed and chase those podiums again next year.

Ruben will be going up to Juvenile category and Nathan will start Youth (15 to 16-year-olds). You can follow their progress on Instagram @trailrippers