The mountain bike season kicked off last Sunday with the traditional season-opener in Pembroke.

The venue of the race was a few metres away from the BMX track down to the Pembroke ranges, a circuit which is characterised by rocky terrain with technical downhills and demanding uphill single tracks.

Different categories were held to cater for various abilities with the Elite section fielding Malta's top racers.

From the start, Gerard Said took the lead as he set off to the first downhill in frantic pace. He was followed closely by Maurice Formosa, Mark Bonnici, Etienne Bonello and Clive Ebejer.

It was Formosa who took the lead in the first climb with Bonello and Bonnici hot on his heels. Said suffered from his initial surge and lost some ground on the leading trio, with Ebejer following closely.

The three front-runners kept a solid pace to set an interesting scenario for the overall win. It proved to be an unfortunate day for national champion Bonello who had to deal with mechanical problems which forced him to stop and fix a twisted chain.

Formosa, who showed to have winning form, outpaced Bonnici to cruise to victory in 51:53 minutes.

Bonnici finised two minutes behind Formosa while Ebejer was third in 54:22. Bonello managed to finish the race in fourth place.

In the Sports category, Jeffrey Borg produced an excellent race to finish ahead of Owen Ciantar and Antwan Mugliett.

In the women's race, Marie Claire Aquilina showed some skillful mountain bike ability as she cruised to victory ahead of triathlon champion Danica Bonello Spiteri who was making her debut.

The next mountain bike event will be on February 28 when the second round of the National Points Series will be held in Miżieb.

For further details log on to www.maltamountainbike.com.