Broadstone’S Luke Gray (Hargroves/Scott) secured third place overall in the the British Mountain Bike XC Series.

His fine end to the season was capped when he took the runners-up spot in the final round of series at the former World Cup venue at Plymouth.

Gray got off to a good start with the current national champion Kenta Gallagher (777 Racing) on his wheel, but the Broadstone-based rider continued to make progress on the eventual winner, Steve James (Mountain Trax), some 20 seconds up at the end of the first lap.

After despatching Gallagher on a climb, Gray continued to push but James was in a class of his own and was never to be seen again.

It was a successful end to the series for Gray who had suffered a broken pelvis mid-s-eason.

In the Veterans race, the Dorset trio of Darren Shepherd (Primera), Mark Chadbourne (RIDE) and Roland Tilley (RIDE) finished fourth, fifth and six respectively in a very competition category.

Other placings: Richard Lang (Open, fourth), Stuart King (Masters, 23rd), Mark Hardwicke (Veterans, 16th), Garrett Hill (Grand Veterans, 10th) and Carol Tilley (Veterans, 5th). Stu Bowers failed to finish the Elite race due to illness.

SPEEDY RESULT

THE traditional end to the time-trialling season saw the composite pairing of Paul Jones (Bournemouth Jubilee) and Julian Jenkinson (Utag Yamaha.com) record the fastest time of the day with a superb time of 51:23 in the annual Veterans Time Trial Association 25-mile event.

Using the Upton bypass course, the event sees teams of two riders compete together with one rider required to be more than 40 years of age.

The best club pairing was that of Max Baldock and Terry Icke of Poole Wheelers who recorded 52:49.

Lesley Walkling (a3crg) and Rachel McGranaghan (Fareham Wheelers) went on to record 1:00:05 for the fastest female pair.

SPORTIVE EVENT

WITH the road season now over, the Wiliers New Forest 100 Sportive event may interest many cyclists.

Set in the New Forest National Park, the event on Sunday, October 11 is open to riders of all ages and abilities with a choice of either a 100-mile, 70-mile or 40-mile route starting from Brockenhurst. Pre-entries are advised, although a limited number of entries on the day will be accepted.

Further details can be found at www.ukcyclingevents.co.uk

TEACHER'S WIN

IN CC Weymouth’s annual athletes 10-mile time trial, school teacher Rowan Horner (VC St Raphael/Waite Contracts) emerged as the winner when recording a time of 23:22.

Broadstone’s Dave Pickering took third place with 23:44 while Paul Harris (Poole Wheelers) took fifth.

Pickering led Bournemouth Jubilee to the team prize with Mark Bloomfield (sixth, 25:37) and Andrew Graham (seventh, 25:45) contributing to a combined time of 1:15:06 for the trio.