THREE junior Malvern Cycle Sport riders helped the West Midlands to fifth place at the UK Inter-regional Mountain Bike Championships.

Stan Pritchard, Ross Harnden and Hattie Harnden were nominated from their season’s results to be in the team of eight at the 2014 Olympic mountain bike course in Essex.

Over three days, the event tested skills, fitness and race craft.

The skills test saw nervous performances and a disappointing 11th place for the West Midlands.

However, by the end of the second day, they had settled in and moved up to seventh.

The final day proved a thriller, beginning with the mixed team relay in the morning.

Pritchard was first off the line with a great start only to have his chain snap 200 yards up the track.

Not to be deterred, he ran the 1.5km course with his bike to finish the leg midway in the field.

Hattie Harnden regained crucial positions before handing over to Ross Harnden, who finished in powerful style to leave the team in seventh position with one race to go.

The finale was the cross-country race and, with the girls racing first, Hattie Harnden started some way back on the grid as one of the youngest competitors.

Completing five 3.6km laps confidently, she worked her way up to seventh out of 52.

In the boys’ race, Ross Harnden began on the front row with Pritchard two rows behind.

The field of 52 raced at an intense pace and the former finished the first lap in the lead before playing cat-and-mouse with two others for the remaining six laps.

On the final lap, Ross Harnden crashed but he recovered to claw himself back up to finish third, a few seconds behind the runners-up spot.

Pritchard held his pace to finish not far behind in seventh.

The riders proved themselves to be among the best in the UK with the West Midlands finishing a respectable fifth out of 14 regions.