Roe is quickest but Payne takes gold

PETIT BOT Valley was the venue for the Guernsey Velo Club downhill mountain bike championships.

This also included round four of the Holeshot Downhill Series.

This venue is a favourite for a lot of the riders and has been used for downhill since 1998.

After rain the day before, the course was slippery but dried well throughout practice.

All the riders, who included seven from Jersey, had two hours to familiarise themselves with the course, which started at the top of the valley above the trees then followed the track down into the woods where the course consisted of rooty corners, drops, off camber sections and a wooden table top jump put in especially for this event.

After this the riders had a section along the lower track, then into the final section of single track with more slippery roots towards the finish line.

After the seeding run, James Roe had set the fastest qualifying time of 1-10.24.

With all the riders reseeded for the last run, there was a chance for everyone to try and claim one of the medals that was up for grabs in all four categories.

In the senior category, Richard Payne, who is from Somerset but lives in Jersey, took the gold medal with a time of 1-10.37, silver went to Antony Renouf who was very close behind with a time of 1-10.91.