The 2007 Junior World Downhill Champion Ruaridh Cunningham has been racing all season with a severely injured knee. The World Cup season recently ended in Schladming, Austria, and Ruaridh in his first year as a senior racer showed he was worthy of the rainbow stripes in the season’s final qualifying session, where he finished in tenth place.


Photo courtesy of Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense

     Ruaridh injured his knee at the end of October 2007 while riding at his local downhill track. At that time he went to the hospital and was told it was just bruised, so he continued to ride. His knee gave way a few weeks later, so he booked an MRI scan to get a look inside the joint. It took two months to get the results of that MRI and the full extent of the damage. Ruaridh had snapped his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), tore his medial collateral ligament (MCL), damaged knee cartilage and suffered severe bone bruising.
     Without knowing the actually severity of his injury, Ruaridh began physical therapy to strengthen his knee, and also wore a motocross-style knee brace for additional support. He struggled throughout the 2008 season, because of the knee’s instability. On September 17th, Ruaridh had reconstructive knee surgery. Afterwards he called his Chain Reaction/Intense Cycles team manager, Nigel Page, to confirm the surgery went well.
     “The operation was a success,” says Cunningham. “However, because my knee kept popping out when riding this season the damage was increased. I now have another long physical therapy program ahead of me before can my mountain bike again, but should be able to start training on a road bike by this November.


Photo courtesy of Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense    

     “We’re looking forward to Ruaridh being fully fit and ready to show us all what he is capable of next season," says team manager and former World Cup downhill racer Nigel Page.
     “I'm pretty motivated for next year now. I'll have a good winters training behind me, and won't have to worry about protecting my knee when I ride next season,” continued Ruaridh.