A MOUNTAIN bike race expert told a court it would have been impossible to legislate for riders coming off their bikes and colliding with spectators at the Llangollen event where a woman suffered fatal injuries.

Craig Scott, a professional mountain bike guide, was giving evidence in support of Michael Marsden, the organiser of the downhill event at Tan Y Graig Farm at which Judith Garrett was hit by an out-of-control bike on August 31, 2014 and later died.

Mr Scott told Mold Crown Court that even in highly-regulated biking events like the Tour de France, spectators were up very close to the riders.

He said: “At most cycle events there is a risk of riders coming into collision with spectators.

"It is impossible to eliminate that risk unless you keep a large space between the competitors and the spectators which would detract from the enjoyment of the event.”

The expert said there would have been a risk of riders coming off their bikes at any point of the course.

The prosecution has claimed an area close to the finishing line into which Miss Garrett, of Prudhoe in Northumberland, walked to watch her boyfriend racing down the track should have been made a “no go” zone.

But Mr Scott told the court it was not uncommon to have a mountain bike course without any security zones at all.

Marsden has been accused of failing to carry out an adequate risk assessment for the event, one of many his company Borderline Events had staged since 2008.

But Mr Scott added it was impossible to draft a site specific risk assessment weeks before such event, so it was normal practice to write a generic assessment and update it on the day.

Mr Scott believed the nine marshals engaged by Marsden at Tan Y Graig were sufficient for a course he did not consider to be onerous for riders who would have possessed good skill sets as they were competing at a regional event.

“The riders attracted to these events want that challenge and they want them to be difficult, but in the world of downhill mountain biking this is not a particularly difficult course. It is easy to find far harder and far faster terrains,” he said.

Marsden, 41, of Gressingham Drive, Lancaster, denies failing to ensure the safety of spectators and failing to make a suitable assessment of the health and safety risks posed to spectators.

The British Cycling Federation denies failing to conduct an undertaking in such a way as to ensure the health and safety of people attending.

A marshal at the event, Kevin Duckworth, 42, of Addison Street, Accrington, Lancashire, has been found not guilty of failing to ensure his health and safety duties as a marshal were complied with.

The case continues.