CASTLEMORTON mountain bikers Belinda Flattery and Andrew Tarling have won two more rounds of the 2002 National Trailquest League, bringing their season's tally to four.

The National League events are 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.

Round four was an exciting and close contest held in the Peak District. In difficult terrain with a lot of rough moorland tracks to traverse Andrew and Belinda ended up tied on points for first spot.

"Luckily the tie-break went in our favour really," said Belinda. "It was based on who had visited the most high-scoring checkpoints and we just clinched it on that."

The fifth round was based nearer to home at Kington in Hereford-shire, and organised by Radnor Rough Riders.

"This is real mountain-bike country," explained Andrew. "Its the most extensive off-road area in the south of England with a huge number of routes and tracks, very, very hilly though."

They got off to a fine start, but ended with Andrew crashing, plus some navigational errors on the last checkpoint. The duo ended up almost 15 minutes over the five hour time limit and lost 40 points, but still managed to win their class overall.

With four wins so far, Andrew and Belinda currently top the mixed team rankings in the nine-round National Series that runs until October

Belinda said: "We're not looking towards the end of the series at the moment though, we want to concentrate on doing really well at the National Championships at Cannock first."

The National Championship weekend is the major trailquest event of the year. It has several events open to riders of all abilities, including anyone looking just to try their hand.

It takes place at Cannock Chase on July 27/28 and is organised by 'Trailblazers', for more information phone 01827 55195.