Robin Horsfield hailed his career-best performance after building on a strong start to the new Canada Cup Mountain Bike Race Series.

Just two days after clinching a place on the podium after finishing third in the opening short track race of the season on Friday, the national champion finished a hard-fought thirteenth in the first cross country event, at the Oro Station course, crossing the line in a time of 1hr 45mins.

While rightfully delighted to start the campaign by earning a spot on the podium, it was the performance on Sunday which proved most satisfying for the 24-year-old, who represents Royal City Racing.

“It was really nice to get on the podium on the first sprint race of the season,” Horsfield said.

“However, the thirteenth place in the full cross country race is the best I've ever had in the series and so that ranks really highly for me.

“Obviously getting a podium place on the short track is great, but the longer and bigger races are what I’m here to be competing in and to finish where I did is really encouraging for me.

“It was also pleasing because it is a course I really struggled on before. It’s a really hard course with a lot of climbing and high technical difficulty and so it was great that I performed well.

“I was actually among the leaders early on before dropping back, but I managed to then work up to thirteenth and hold my position which was encouraging.

“My fitness levels have improved a lot for sure because I was able to push through the fatigue, whereas when I competed here before I really struggled.”

With aspirations of becoming a professional within the sport, Horsfield's next aim is to regularly finish inside the top ten in the cross country races.

“I’m seeing those improvements in my performances from previous years and so that gives me a lot of hope for the rest of the season,” he said.

“I think I was only two or three minutes behind the leaders and so I know I'm close to those top-ten finishes. Some of the other courses we will be competing on I think I have a better chance and so that's encouraging. “In the future I definitely hope and think I can stay in those top-ten positions.

"My next race is in two weeks time in Mont Tremblant and then from there it will be a long hard month of racing, but it's been a good start to the season and I'm definitely excited to see where I can go from here."