Golden boy Killeen shines at Newport

The 33-year-old, a five-time national mountain bike champion, claimed victory in the men's senior race at the event.

It was promoted by Newport Cycling Club and staged at the town's rugby club.

Killeen finished three minutes ahead of George Thompson, from Sleaford Wheelers, while Ride Coventry's Darren Atkins came top of the veteran 40-49 class in the same race.

The men's senior race was one of six held, on a day which saw the best off-road riders in the region competing on the rugby club course.

Tim Gould proved a popular winner of the veterans over-50s race.

The UK's top mountain biker in the early 1990s, Gould returned to the sport last year and will be aiming to defend his national veterans title next month.

There was local success for Karen Summers, of Revolutions Racing, who took silver in the women's veteran 40-49 class.

Mid-Shropshire Wheelers youngster Ewan Grivell-Mellor, meanwhile, just missed out on junior bronze by seven seconds, as he builds toward January's national championships.

For Newport's riders, there were mixed fortunes.

The use of national rankings to decide grid positions meant riders who had not ridden a series event started at the back.

Gareth Evans (veterans men) and Matthew Garthwaite both forced to ride hard in working their way through the field.

Youngster Charlie Fisher, meanwhile, saw his hopes in the under-16s race ended by a crash, though he battled through the pain of a knee injury to finish midway in the pack.

The club fielded an impressive 13 riders in the support races for children under the age of 12. Ben Bramford-Hale took his second podium this year with second in the under-6 boys event.

Seniors: 1 Liam Killeen (Private) 57:27, 2 George Thompson (Sleaford) 1:00:17, 3 Jonathan Harper (Mansfield) 1:00:36, 4 Ben Wadey (Clees) 1:00:40, 5 Darren Atkins (Coventry) 1:02:27.

Juniors: 1 Cameron Orr (Sherwood) 40:55, 2 Harry Yates (Hargroves Cycles) 42:08, 3 Ross Harnden (Malvern) 43:07, 4 Ewan Grivell-Mellor (Mid-Shropshire Wheelers) 43:14, 5 Kieran Howarth (Notts Clarion) 45:33.

U12: 1 Chris Hilbert (Pines) 12:25, 2 Ben Askey (Lichfield) 12:25, 3 Alex Barker (Halesowen) 12:30, 4 Sullivan Berry (Redditch), 5 Samuel Gold (Matlock) 13:04.

U10: 1 Spencer Corder (Stratford) 10:01, 2 Lewis Tinsley (Stratford) 10:44, 3 Ben Mellor (Matlock) 11:11, 4 Rudy Killworth (Welland Valley) 11:14, 5 Ryan Oldfield (Redditch) 11:15.

U8: 1 Jacob Stead (Bolsover and District) 6:51, 2 Dillon Preece (Bolsover and District) 7:18, 3 Noah White (Mid-Shropshire Wheelers) 7:28, 4 William Brown (Bolsover) 7:53), 5 Jefferston Tear-Verwelj 08:04.