Wightlink-Wight Mountain CRT members were back in action at the weekend.

Allan Cook, Ewan Cook, Nick Earley, Nadia Lele and new junior signing, Alfie Haydon, all competed in the first round of the Gorrick Brass Monkey XC Endurance Winter Series – The Christmas Cracker – on Sunday.

They travelled to Deepcut, Surrey, for the big occasion.

Winding through heath and pine woodland, the Porridgepot Hill course comprised short, sharp, steep climbs and fast single-track descents, mixed in with swooping trails and stone fire roads.

Despite the challenging conditions the team pulled out some fantastic results.

Nadia put in a gutsy performance in the ladies’ two-hour race (1:20:24), finishing in second place, and Nick (1:57:57) rode consistently over four laps to take third place in his race.

Ewan and Alfie, meanwhile, were in the mix with the other junior riders from the off.

The former pushed up through the bunch to take third place (1:29:29), while Alfie crashed mid-race and had to repair a flat tyre, finishing in sixth place (1:37:45).

Allan got off to a good start in his three-hour race, digging in over five laps, but coming in just shy of a top ten finish (2:55:55).

“It was tough out there,” said Nick.

“But we gave it our all and came home with some great results for our first race of the series.

“We’re looking forward to racing again in the new year and hope to pick up a few more trophies and maybe a win in the next round.”