CRAPSTONE mountain bike star Maya Atkinson insists she will be making the most of her summer after securing bronze at the recent National Downhill Championships.

Crashing in your qualification run is hardly the ideal start to a competition but Atkinson turned disappointment into jubilation by securing bronze in Oswestry earlier this month.

While it thankfully did not put an end to the event, the knock was enough to put the 16-year-old on edge, but she recovered when it mattered most to finish third in the youth women category.

’It wasn’t a track that suited me at the National Championships, it was quite greasy and wet and I’m more suited to dry conditions, so it wasn’t my best performance,” said Maya, who benefits from being a part of the SSE Next Generation programme.

’It wasn’t a major crash, but in my race I just did everything to stay on my bike, which probably made me not have the best performance. You take it a bit more carefully, always being conscious of hurting yourself, so to get bronze after that was excellent.

’That came a week after the Megavalanche snow event – that was some of the best fun I’ve ever had on a bike. It was a huge help with fitness, I’m more skilled with downhill now so it’s massively helped me work out where I can improve, and the snow was so challenging but I loved it.

’I didn’t even know there was a category for me! I thought it was just women’s, but I ended up coming second in the juniors which was a fantastic result and a huge bonus.’

Those performances rounded off a strong season for Maya, impressing in the British Downhill Series as she looks to put herself in contention for a place in the British team in next year’s World Championships.

There appears to be a period of downtime to look forward to now but she insists she will have to be dragged off her bike over the summer.

’I’m out training for the next few months, particularly in Austria, but competition doesn’t start until September,’ she added.

’I’m not sure if you can even call it training, I love it so much – it’s basically just riding a bike with my family in different countries, having that relaxing time and still working at the same time. I don’t know how I’d cope if I wasn’t riding!

’Even if it’s a road bike, or cross-country, doing different disciplines can help my downhill biking, and those little things can help me learn more things about the way I ride and also increases my fitness along the way too.”

SSE’s Next Generation programme partners with SportsAid to provide financial support and training to the sports stars of the future. Keep up to date with the latest @SSENextGen