MOUNTAIN bike riders from Malvern Cycle Sport scored a record five podium results at the British National Cross Country Series second round.

On a tough new course near Plymouth, Joe Adsett began the string of top finishes with second place in the open event.

The steep climbs and difficult descents on the course clearly suited Malvern’s riders, as Ross Harnden rode to a clear win in the youth male race and sister Hattie Harnden won the juvenile female category.

British Olympic development programme rider Evie Richards followed up on her round one junior female win with another first place.

The string of wins was completed by David Creber, with a commanding lead in the expert race.

Never before have a club shown such dominance at national level.

The large Malvern contingent produced other strong results.

In the open race, Tom Harnden demonstrated fine descending to finish seventh.

Paddy O’Toole was 14th in the sport race, while the youth male category saw Louis Brooks ride the challenging technical sections well to achieve 17th.

Sophie Fennell was unlucky to crash in the expert women’s section as the field funnelled into a tight section.

In a fiercely competitive junior race, Stan Pritchard attacked early before fading in the latter stages and slipping to eighth, which was a fine result for his first year at the level.

He was closely followed by Josh Brooks, who rode even lap times to finish 15th.

In the expert male section, James Dickens rode well but lost a place on his fourth lap to come in 26th and Ryan Milne stopped a lap short of the full five-lap distance to finish 57th.

Ben Dale started the veterans’ race strongly, completing the first lap in eighth place, only for his race to end with a deflated tyre on the second — taking one of the jumps too fast, he burst the tyre on landing.

Greg Fitzpatrick also suffered tyre deflation, this time on lap two of the grand veterans’ race.

He nursed the bike around the course to a support area, allowing him to regain pressure and set off in pursuit of the field after losing eight places.

Gaining time with each lap, Fitzpatrick finished 21st.

The Malvern riders demonstrated superb fitness when climbing and the ability to take fast lines down challenging descents where others crashed. The results reflect the outstanding support the team have from Olympian Liam Killeen and world champion Tracy Moseley.