Matthew Oliveira threw down the gauntlet in the Flying Colours Mountain Bike Series at Southlands, Warwick, yesterday with a dominant display to send a clear message that he is the rider to beat.

After a fast aggressive start, which included World Xterra Champion Flora Duffy, who arrived in Bermuda on Saturday, Oliveira, Robin Horsefield and Dylan Hill broke away from the rest of the field.

They battled each other for three laps of the 50-minute race, before Oliveira began to pull away, eventually crossing the finish line a minute ahead of Hill who beat out Horsefield by just four seconds.

Rounding out the top five, Kaden Hopkins held off last year’s National Champion Gary Raynor, and with the top four finishers all 15-years-old, the future surely looks bright for the sport.

Duffy, who was not riding to be competitive, came sixth overall.

On the tough, demanding course, the male veterans were competing in their 40-minute event with Dexter Swan taking an early lead of 15 seconds by the end of the first lap.

As the race progressed it was Hans Hirschi who took control, putting in two fast laps which gave him a lead that he would steadily build on, finishing almost 1min 50sec ahead of Swan.

Peter Dunne was third after he pulled away from Paulo Medeiros after a fierce contest between the two. Despite being the lone female veteran, Karen Bordage had an impressive ride which would have seen her finishing fifth in the men’s field.

With a total of 120 riders racing in all categories, the Male B was the biggest, with 31 competitors on the start line.

In what was the closest contest of the day Jenai Robinson, Andrew Hern and Adam Kirk treated the crowd of spectators to an exciting race.

Lap after lap, the three riders were inseparable until Kirk and then Hern had to give way to Robinson’s superior fitness.

In what had to be regarded as one of the rides of the day, youngster Alyssa Rowse got off to a slow start on the first lap of the Female B category before picking up the pace recording five consistent laps, passing most of the men in the field. She finished about five minutes ahead of Ashley Robinson in second and Tristan Narraway in third.

In the Male Novice race, Chase Toogood eventually caught and passed early leader Dirk Haselkuss to take the victory. Ziani Burgesson finished second and Haselkuss held on for third.

It was an equally good contest in the Female Novice race won by Elizabeth Stewart, who finished ahead of Belinda Castree and Kim Raymond.

The popularity of mountain bike racing on the Island was no more evident than in the number of riders in the boys’ 13-15 and 12 and under categories, boasting 13 and 20 riders respectively.

In the closest finish of the day, Nick Pilgrim outsprinted Alex Miller to win by one second in the 13-15 race. Liam Flannery won the boys’ 12 and under race, with Megan Hands winning the girls catergory.