HOLME VALLEY Wheelers Amira Mellor and Joe Williams were in sparkling form in the youth race at the Hit The North 4 Annual Cycle Event around Philips Park in Whitefield.

The event in Manchester is relatively new on the cycling circuit, but has grown rapidly over the last few years and is seen as a fun finish to the cyclo-cross season before the onset of the new road season.

There are no restrictions on the type of bike competitors use, so a varied mix of MTB’s, cross bikes and hybrids can be seen battling their way around the very technical 3.5 mile circuit for almost two hours.

Both Amira and Joe made intelligent decisions to ride their MTB’s and got off to good starts.

They kept a very controlled pace given the duration of the race and managed all of the berms and descents very well.

At the line they both finished strongly with Amira taking fourth and Joe taking eighth.

Thomas Craig (Scott UK), son of MTB champion Nick, took the win.

In the Senior race the Star Wheelers team of Graham Piccavey, Ivan Boyes and Peter Dukes chose to ride cross bikes.

They finished 38th, 43rd and 69th out of 240 finishers, while Nick Craig (Scott UK) took the win.

Ivan Boyes said: “It was a great event, very technical in places.

“But while it is seen as a bit of a fun event, there were some very determined riders out there.

“Nick Craig would not ride it if it was not a serious challenge.”