COLCHESTER Rovers were out in force at the latest round of the Mud, Sweat and Gears cross country mountain bike race at Carver Barracks.

The round also formed the regional championship event and a testing course was laid out for the younger riders.

The long course took in some technical features as well as a multitude of surfaces and Matilda Challinor hit the deck twice, in the under-12 race.

Chloe Ollett narrowly missed out on a podium position while Lizzie Wellsted finished 11th, just ahead of Challinor (12th) and Daisy Emerson (13th).

In the under-nine race, George Collins finished a provisional sixth with William Smith close behind in ninth and James Clarke in 19th.

Phoebe Ollett rode to an excellent sixth place, in the under-nine girls' race.

Rovers' youngest members were well represented in the balance bike event.

A very mixed course challenged the adult riders, with Rovers' talented all-rounder Stuart Weatherley producing an excellent ride to finish seventh in the Sport Male race.

In the Open Male race, Rovers' mountain bike co-secretary Peter Philips finished a very impressive third despite falling at a tricky gravel right hander, injuring his shin.

Martin Smith and Chris English continued their good upper mid-table finishes with their respective 23rd and 25th spots.

John Letch suffered more poor luck with a puncture but recovered to bag an impressive 31st place.

Paul Smith was 54th for the Rovers, just one place behind Colchester Clunkers' Chris Seaward.

Kevin Ollett finished 72nd

Rovers' Paul Fisher finished 44th, with the timing system recording one of his laps as one of the fastest of the day when he was actually fixing a puncture!

A blown tyre forced former Rover James Rethman, racing for Hadliegh MTB Club, out of the race.

But the rest of his family faired much better, with wife Christine finishing eighth in the Open Female and son Max seventh in the under-12 boys'.

Rovers took part in Maldon and Distict CC's event, which now forms the 50-mile leg of the Colchester club's 2017 time trial championship.

A number of the 61 riders on the startsheet failed to finish, including Rovers' own Jim Reed.

But Rovers club veteran Colin White completed the course in three hours 38 minutes 23 seconds, an improvement on his time on the same course last year as he recovers from illness.

John Loxley clocked 2h 36m 25s, while going under the 2h 20m-mark were Paul Dewberry (2h 17m 46s), Roy Cuppleditch (2h 15m 19s), Jim Clayton (2h 14m 41s) and Gary Hamblion, who posted 2h 12m 36s.