Robin Horsfield retained his crown in emphatic style in the Winners Edge Mountain Bike Cross Country National Championships at Southlands.

Horsfield, a specialist in the mountain bike discipline, competes in Canada but demonstrated his technical prowess on his return to the island by comfortably winning the Open Male Division in a time of 58min 46sec.

Chequan Richardson (1hr 13min 58sec) finished more than 15 minutes adrift to take second place, with Alex Pilgrim completing the podium places in 1:13:58.

After living up to his pre-race billing as the overwhelming favourite, the 24-year-old was delighted to win the title for a fifth time.

“It’s always rewarding to come back home and win that national title,” he said.

“It’s a little nerve-racking before the race, never knowing how it is going to go. Thankfully once you get going, all that goes away and it’s then just up to me to live up to expectations. Thankfully I managed to do that.”

With the national title safely secured for another year, Horsfield will turn his attention back to his domestic season as he competes for Royal City Racing in the Canada Cup.

“The great thing about this race is that it showed me a few things I need to go away and work on ahead of the season starting,” said the 24-year-old, who is setting aside the next two years to try to fulfil his aspiration of joining the professional ranks of the sport.

“The technical skills are all there which was pleasing, so it’s about adding that extra fitness now.

“Between now and next year I’ll be really trying to focus in on making that progress in the sport back in Canada. It’s an added pressure because that’s what I’m doing now, but it’s rewarding to make that progress.

“I know I won’t get to the professional ranks within a year and so really it is all about next year. This year is about laying a strong foundation, getting some good results and continuing to improve.

“Last year I ranked sixteenth in the Canada Cup Series and so this year I would definitely like to be in the top ten. That’s the aim and expectation.”

There was also a dominant display from Panzy Olander in the Open Female Division to win her first national mountain bike title.

Olander crossed the line in a winning time of 49:15, just under ten minutes clear of her closest competitor Caitlin Conyers (59:07), with Wendy-Ann Thomas rounding out the top three in 1:00:33.

“I am super stoked to have won this title,” said Olander, who also clinched a maiden One Communications Mountain Bike title this season.

“I was really nervous because this is my first national championship and so I’m really excited to have won. I only really started cycling about a year-and-a-half ago and so it’s been quite the year for me.

“I have a lot more skill now than I did and I’m also a lot fitter, so already I can’t wait for the next mountain bike season to start up again.”

In the Masters Men division, Kavin Smith triumphed in a time of 59:05, comfortably ahead of James Holloway (1:04:20) and Hans Hirschi (1:06:27).

There was also delight for Jackson Langley, who came out on top in the Junior Male division in 46:28, slightly more than five minutes clear of Ollie Hayward (51:33) with Gordon Smith third in 1:00:31.

Charlotte Millington (40:35) was crowned the junior female champion, holding off the challenge of Skye Ferguson (42:20), with Kelise Wade completing the podium places in 45:44.

In the Junior Male 13-16 race, Dylan Eiselt (12:19) prevailed ahead of Jens Drea (13:15) and Ray Richardson 15:07), while Hannes Swart won the corresponding 7-12 race in 12:38, narrowing beating Trystan Thompson (13:28) with Austen Carr (14:20) in third.