Bermuda Bicycle Association launched its sixth year of Mountain Bike Racing with a successful season opener at Hog Bay Park on Sunday morning ? but only after a group of volunteers had spent several Saturday mornings clearing the course that was devastated by Hurricane Fabian.

It was immediately clear that Garth Thomson, last year?s series national champion, had lost none of his form during the summer break.

Picking up where he left off last season, Thomson set a furious pace, maintaining the lead for the entire eight laps of the men?s open race.

Neil de St.Croix wasn?t far behind but couldn?t quite catch his rival who finished strongly in 38 minutes 34 seconds. De St Croix was just over a minute back in 39:41.

Both of the front runners, however, have some serious new competition to deal with and will be looking over their shoulders for the likes of New Zealander Geoff Wing, local road racing powerhouse Wayne Scott and last year?s novice champion Dave Padega.

Wing finished Sunday?s race in third place in 42:42 and Scott, racing for the first time on a mountain bike, came home fourth in 44:15 with Padega just another 45 seconds. back (45:04).

Steve Williams enjoyed one of his best races, taking sixth place with an excellent time of 45:52 followed by another New Zealander, Alan Reid, in seventh (46:38).

Duncan Simons, home for a brief vacation, placed eighth (49:22), followed by Rolf Runkel (50:31) and Grant Gouge (51:16).

In the women?s open category, the only competitor, Kim McMullen, raced the same course and number of laps as the men, finishing in 45:19 that placed her sixth overall.

In the boys? 15-16 category it was Conner Burns who rode away with the honours. Riding six laps of the same long course as the open men, Burns quickly opened up a lead and continued to stretch it throughout the race, finishing in 39:12, over four minutes ahead of second-placed Matthew Godfrey (43:29).

Jonathon White was able to hold off Aaron Fenn to take third place in 45:30 with Fenn clocking 46:26. James Burrows, racing for the first time, finished fifth in 47:34 ahead of Tristan Loescher.

In the boys? 13-14 category, the rivalry between Ricky Sousa Jr and Tim Fox resumed with Sousa emerging triumphant over eight laps of the short course. The two rivals raced neck and neck for the first six laps before Sousa put in a decisive move on the seventh and was able to ride home in 29:04, just 50 seconds ahead of Fox (29:53).

Third-placed Thomas Godfrey (33:53) and fourth-placed Geoffrey Burns (33:57) were separated by just four seconds. Marc Smith held off Dominic White to take fifth in 41:43 with White in sixth (42:52).

In the veterans? race Paulo Madeiros proved he would once again be the man to beat this season as he powered to victory, but he wasn?t that far ahead of his main rival, Ian Fox. Madeiros finished eight laps of the short course in 28:51 with Fox 40 seconds behind in 29:32. Mannard Packwood took third in a time of 31:45 with Nigel Godfrey fourth in 33:12.

Tristan Smith was the lone novice competitor, completing his eight laps of the short course in a respectable 37:34.

Likewise in the boys? 11-12 there was only one racer but DuJuan Simons clocked a good time of 23:19 for five laps of the short course and was keeping up with the boys from the 13-14 category.

In the boys? 10 and under, Leonard Williams edged Ben Green, taking first place in 15:37. Green finished in 17:02 and would have been closer but for a mechanical problem. Ben?s twin sister Amy took the girls? under-10 category with a good time of 16:22.