COLCHESTER Rovers’ mountain bikers took part in the latest Mud, Sweat and Gears (MSG) Series event, at East London’s Lee Valley Velopark.

A very motivated George Collins won the under-nine boys’ race in superb style while Phobe Ollett was fifth amongst the under-nine girls'.

In the under-12 races, Rovers’ Lizzy Wellsted and Daisy Emerson landed fifth and tenth respectively, while William Smith was 21st under-12 boy.

Over the full course, the Women, Juvenile, Youth and Open Male categories went off at minute intervals.

This caused some problems for the faster riders, as passing less experienced riders on the rocky single track sections proved frustrating.

In the Youth race, Dan Hall was seventh and Jake Crossley punctured on lap three and retired, after a strong-looking start.

Chloe Ollet was impressive on the full course in the Juvenile Female race, finishing fifth while Jack Letch was 14th in the Juvenile Male race which also featured Ollie Wellsted and Jack Emerson.

Andy Hurst, John Letch, Martin Smith and Chris English raced in the Open Male category, with Hurst picking up an impressive ninth in the large field.

Rovers’ youth rider Zoe Swainston joined 800 other mountain bike riders at the annual Battle on the Beach race in Wales, the UK’s largest off-road race.

Swainston did fantastically well on the challenging course and finished with a smile on her face, an excellent advert for Rovers.

A good-sized field battled it out as Rovers’ midweek time trial series got underway in earnest.

The series started with the traditional opening event, a short circuit of the seven-mile course around Layer-de-la-Haye and the Abberton reservoir.

Murky and misty weather met the evening riders but that did not deter a field of more than 30 competitors keen to test their early season TT legs.

Fastest on the night was Lee Kennedy with an impressive time of 16 minutes 11 seconds.

Mark Lloyd and Mike Smith were second and third, 20 and 26 seconds behind respectively.

Among the women riders, Rachel Jarvis kicked off this season as she finished the last, taking the honours with 19m 35s.

Laura Mansel-Thomas showed good form to finish second at 21 seconds, while Lesley Fuller was third at 47 seconds.

There were some very strong rides from Colchester’s youth riders.

Dexter Mansel-Thomas and Jake Crossley were very close to the leaders, both going under the 17-minute mark, with 16m 56s and 16m 59s respectively.

Oli Partner was close behind with 18m 16s and there were also strong rides too from youth riders Amelia Hooper (22m 26s) and Zoe Swainston (22m 54s).