of the season on Sunday morning with a solid ride over the three quarter mile loop at Hog Bay Park.

However, the pack in the open category remained competitive as once again the early pace was set by Peter Matcham and Brian Steinhoff with Sterritt preferring to wait for things to settle down before making his move on the third of eight laps.

Newcomer Kent Richardson, a familiar face on the triathlon and running circuits locally, proved he can be a force to be reckoned with in this sport too. Throughout the eight laps Richardson kept the pressure on both Matcham and Steinhoff in a tight battle for second, third and fourth spots.

Matcham, who faded in the latter stages of the previous week's race, managed to hold off Steinhoff to finish two minutes down on Sterritt in a time of 36:16 with Steinhoff just behind in 36:56 and Richardson another 35 seconds back.

Duncan Simons, one of the top local riders, was a victim of the early torrid pace, suffering a crash on the first lap that left him with a dislocated collar bone, putting him out of action until at least the first race of the new year on January 2.

The new, shorter course for the other categories proved to be a popular change and made for much closer finishes.

Paulo Madeiros took top honours again in the veteran category in a time of 28:48 but his winning margin was much less than it had been a week earlier with Mark Edmunds finishing second only 2:20 behind Madeiros and Ian Fox another 33 seconds back in third.

Top junior runner Mark Morrison also proved his worth on a mountain bike by powering to victory in his first race in the 15-16 category in a time of 27:07. In the process he pushed first race winner Nick Taylor into a close second with a time of 28:04.

In another tight race, Trovaughan Smith beat Matthew Herring by just eight seconds in the junior 13-14 category in a time of 28:46.

Karen Madeiros won the women's category again but both she and junior Ashley Robinson Roberts will be hoping for more competition in the next race.

Ricky Sousa Jr and Tim Fox continued their battle in the 10 and unders with Sousa edging out Fox by just five seconds for the closest finish of the day.

Meanwhile, less than two seconds separated the top three finishers in the first downhill race of the season, as Matcham narrowly edged out Brian Steinhoff and Duncan Simons to win in a time of 1:00.43.

Last week's cross country winner, Sterritt, finshed close behind to grab fourth spot (1:05.85) with California native Steve Lane rounding out the top five in 1:08.14.

Mark Edmunds won the veteran category by just a quarter of a second over second placed Martin Bolton. Nick Taylor proved too fast for the rest of the 15-16 juniors as he won his age group and was seventh overall.

Kent Richardson: impressive mountain biking debut.