A total of 31 riders braved atrocious conditions on Sunday morning for the latest race in the mountain bike series at Locust Hall in what could have easily been mistaken for an episode of 'Survivor - Bermuda'.

What had been a perfectly groomed dry course on Saturday afternoon quickly deteriorated into a mud bath after only a couple of laps of racing in the torrential rain.

By the fourth lap many of the open riders were forced to carry their bikes for a long section of their course which was made impassable by thick mud, debris and steep slippery up and down slopes.

Thankfully, organisers reduced the number of laps for all classes just before the start, but that still did not prevent most riders from having at least one spill.

Garth Thomson's remark before the start of the race - "This is just like being home in Vancouver" - proved a telling one as he adapted best to the elements and rode to victory in the men's Open category. He covered seven sloppy, slippery laps in 41:41, almost two and a half minutes ahead of series leader Neil de St. Croix who finished second in 44:07.

The only other rider who could stay close was vacationing visitor Andrew Inglis who did well to finish just one and a half minutes behind de St Croix in 45:48.

Kyle Smith managed to rob Rolf Runkel of fourth place. Coming from way behind in the early going, Smith managed to close the gap lap by lap and had enough left on the last circuit to catch and pass Runkel on the finish line with a time of 48:49 with Rukel fifth in 48:50.

For the other riders it was a matter of just trying to finish.

Peter Matcham and Chris Smith both managed to meet that goal, finishing sixth and seventh respectively. But the others were not so fortunate with Mannard Packwood, James Adams, Grant Goudge and Steve Williams failing to cross the line.

In the boys 15-16 category all but one of the six starters failed to finish. Geoffrey Smith continued his dominance of the class with an excellent time of 34:11 for six laps of the shorter course.

Smith was followed by Conner Burns, taking second in 38:24, Tristan Loecher third in 44:07 and Sebastian Matcham fourth in 50:27.

Paulo Madeiros took over the lead from an absent Fred Swan at the top of the series points standings by virtue of his victory in the veterans category.

Madeiros' time of 31:15 for five laps of the short course was contested only by Owen Burgess who did well to finish second in 40:04, a result which lifted him above Ian Fox into third place in the standings.

In the novice category all the starters managed to finish and once again it was Dave Padega who triumphed.

Padega finished first with a fast time of 29:18 for six laps, while his main rival Craig Eckman was a little off the pace in 32:09, followed closely by Darren Dowling in 33:55.

Nigel Godfrey, while finishing fourth, got great satisfaction out of completing what was clearly the toughest race of the season so far.

In the boys 13-14 category Ricky Sousa Jr had his first win of the season and the closest finish of the day. Taking advantage of the absence of series leader Tim Fox, Sousa managed to squeeze out a victory over Geoffrey Burns with just five seconds separating first and second place. Sousa finished in 29:50 and Burns in 29:55.

Third place went to Aaron Fenn who was just 20 seconds behind the leaders in a time of 30:10.

He was followed closely by Jonathon White in fourth in 31:24. Nick Lines and Thomas Godfrey both failed to finish.

Marc Smith proved he can ride in any condition taking the top spot once again in the boys 11-12 category with a time of 24:23 for three laps of the short course.

Dominic White had a little harder time with the conditions but still finished with a respectable time of 31:35 to take second, while Blake Hill failed to finish.

The next race, over a cross country course, is on Sunday at Ferry Reach Park. Registration is at 8.30 a.m. and the race starts at 9 a.m.