Peter Matcham may be the fastest man on two wheels going downhill, but MacInnis Looby right now is in a class of his own over the hills.

The two mountain bike riders showed a combination of courage, bike handling skills, determination and fearless riding in Sunday’s mountain bike race at Hog Bay Level, organised by Bermuda Bicycle Association.

The first event of the day was a nerve-racking downhill race taking just over a minute for the top riders to hurtle down a tight technical course against the clock. When the dust settled Matcham took top honours by less than half a second over rival Brian Steinhoff, their times one minute 3.48 seconds and one minute 3.87 seconds respectively.

Matcham was relieved to record his first win of the season. “It was a good race. It had rained overnight and the course was a little tougher than I expected but I just went as fast as I could,” he said.

However Matcham felt there was one ingredient missing to really make him more satisfied. “I wish MacInnis (Looby) had done it. I am not sure why he didn’t but it would have been good to race him,” he said.

Looby, who earlier in the week had indicated he may miss the downhill event, said: “I looked at the course beforehand and I think that the speed I could have ridden would have been more than my skills could handle, I could have found myself in trouble.”

There was no trouble when it came to the cross-country event though as the national team rider combined his fitness from the road racing season with his obvious bike handling skills as he romped to victory over reigning national champion Brian Steinhoff. The winning margin of almost four minutes was reminiscent of two years ago when Steve Sterritt dominated the off-road racing.

Finishing in fourth place, Matcham put it into perspective when he said: “I did my usual, trying to lead for half a lap but when MacInnis took off he was untouchable. He put over nine minutes on me. He is so much fitter than everyone else.”

It was, in fact, a one-man race after the first lap when Looby dropped Steinhoff on the toughest leg-wrenching hill on the course which even he found difficult. “The hill coming up from the coastline was really tough, I managed to ride over it on one lap but had to run the others,” he said.

Looby completed the eight-lap course in 30.39.74 with Steinhoff finishing in 34.24.04. Chris Conway, enjoying a strong start to the season, came in third in 35.17.44 and sent a warning to Steinhoff that he is closing the gap.

In the cross-country event, Ian Fox won the seven-lap veterans event. Maynard Packwood was first in the seven-lap novices category and Jeffrey Smith took honours in the six-lap 15-16 age group.

The nex race is on December 30 at Ferry Reach.