CASTLEMORTON mountain bikers Belinda and Andrew Tarling won the first round of the 2003 UK National Trailquest series at Rivington.

The National Trailquest League events are four or five-hour mountain-bike orienteering competitions testing off-road cycling and navigational skills. The series of events making up the National League are held at venues throughout the UK.

Belinda and Andrew are the current champions in the 'mixed team' category winning last year's 2002 series. This year they hoped to get off to a good start at the first event in Rivington, just north of Manchester on the western edge of the Penines.

With the spell of dry weather preceding the event, the tracks in the area were all dry and extremely fast. On a fine day, with a full complement of 250 riders and teams, it was always going to be a quick event with riders covering a lot of ground.

Organisers Cross-Cumbria Cyclists had set a fine course with checkpoints spread over 140 square kilometres of east Lancashire moorland. Belinda and Andrew made the most of the excellent conditions, using roads and lanes to gain time between checkpoints.

"Using tarmac as much as you can between checkpoints helps keep your average speed up," said Andrew. "You end up covering a lot of miles, but you're much quicker overall."

With good navigation on the day, the team came in only 20 seconds over the allotted four hours. This lost them one point, but their overall score of 419 was easily the best in the mixed team class, beating their nearest rivals by 50 points.

"With only six rounds in this year's series it was important to get off to a good start," said Andrew. "We wanted to really set off where we finished last year and put everything into the first three hours, after that it was just hanging on and trying to get as many extra points as possible."

The next round takes place in Northumberland in May.