TWO county mountain bike aces will be hurtling down the slopes of Ben Nevis in the forthcoming UCI Mountain Bike World Cup.

Women's downhill rac-er, Tracey Moseley and cross-country rider, Li-am Killeen, both from Malvern, are taking part in the Fort William event -- and both harbour high hopes of success.

More than 15,000 spectators are expected to attend the two days of racing on the slopes of the Aonach Mor, on the weekend of Saturday and Sunday June 5 and 6.

Moseley, aged 25, has already tasted victory at Fort William in its inaugural year, 2002, and two years later, after a third place last season, is again one of the favourites.

Having led the world championships for much of last season, until missing out in the run-in, Moseley, is hoping to stay the course this time round.

The forthcoming race in Fort Williams is the start of six rounds of racing that takes the racers to Austria, France, Italy and Canada (twice), as riders from around the world battle for downhill supremacy.

Fort William's course promises to be one of the quicker ones with a descent of 525m, in 2.6km and Moseley admits it's one that tests riders to the limit.

"I think it is one of the toughest ones on the body. It's a man-made course on bog and heath land, it's quite narrow and is just really tough," she said.

"It's also quite fast and on sections you can get up to speeds of 30-40mph."

Moseley is confident of mounting another title challenge but says there's no room for slip-ups.

"Last year it was between four of us and it will probably be the same this year.

"You have to make every round count though. For down-hill you have to be physically pretty fit but also mentally strong because you only get one run."

Killeen meanwhile, who is set to represent Britain at the Olympics, is competing in the cross-country section.

This is a punishing event, raced over six-mile laps, with the races lasting anywhere between two and two-and-a-half hours.

The cross-country world cup, which has a different time-table to the downhill series, has already kicked off with Killeen, 22, finishing 16th in last week's first round in Madrid.

He is in action in Belgium this weekend before travelling to Scotland.

"Fort William is probably the toughest in terms of climbing and the descents are really challenging. There's a lot of man-made obstacles which makes it interesting.

"It's definitely going to sort out the strongest riders but I'm aiming for a top five finish."