Alas, it’s all over for another year, with the final round of the NPS in Hamsterley Forest, Durham marking the formal conclusion of the Mountain Bike season.

Two of TORQ’s riders, Steve Farmer (Scott UK) and Pete Giddings (Total Fitness) made their presence felt once again. Steve appears to have recovered from his long-term nagging back injury, just as the season’s coming to a close. His 12th place in the Pro/Elite category, won by Nick Craig (Diamond Back) was by far his best result of the year. Although ill timed, this result proves that Steve will be a force to be reckoned with next year. Steve is off to sunnier climbs at the end of this month with fellow TORQ-tuned Pro/Elite rider Phil Rayner (Brixton Cycles) to kick of the winter training. Phil unfortunately didn’t make it out of the start arena on Sunday due to a serious mechanical failure. When I asked what he’d done to rectify he problem, he answered ‘I swore loudly and threw my bike to the side of the track’. This isn’t Phil’s usual style, so he must have been a tad upset. Normally he tinkers about with an alan key?

Pete Giddings sailed in to finish 5th in the Sports category event, enough to gain him a podium position for the series and qualify for an Expert licence next year. Pete’s fitness has soared since we met just over a year ago and it looks like the hard work has paid off for him. Unfortunately for Pete, he’s recently come back from a holiday, so he’ll have to wait patiently for his coffers to be refilled before he goes gallivanting off to warmer places.

For those of you that fancy a race this winter, the season doesn’t have to end now. Log on to madformountainbiking.com to view the Mountain Biking and Cylocross events calendars.