There was a bumper entry for the first round of the popular Welsh Sprint Enduro Championship held at Cwmythig Hill by the Rhayader Club recently.

A host of World Championship contenders were looking for practice prior to the highly anticipated return of the World Enduro championship round in August.

Competition was fierce on the day in perfect conditions, with Works Triumph rider Jamie McCanney winning by a fraction of a second from Jack Edmondson. Swedish star Mikael Persson came in third, with Rhayader' Alex Walton finishing in fifth position.

The young local stars put in some good performances throughout the day with Llandrindod Wells rider Sam Davies coming in ninth, Lampeter's Sion Evans in 13th, Builth Wells rider Tomos Wright in 16th and Rees Jones of Llanidloes in 19th.

In the expert class, Charlie Crossland came in first, getting the better of Llanbister’s Shaun Buchan in second place. Llanbrynmair's Iwan Roberts came in third position to round off the podium places and Cross Gates's Kris Price came in seventh. Cilmery's Rhydian Rees finished in a creditable 11th positive in the large experts class.

In the super vets class, Salisbury's Daryl Bolter, who is a former European champion, took home the win. From a local point of view, Welshpool's Jamie Powell came in fifth and Caersws's Tim Forman came just behind in sixth.

Meanwhile, Luke Powell of Builth Wells managed to finish in fourth position in the over 40 class, which was won by Blackburn's Aaron Crowder.

In a large women’s class, world championship regulars Neive Holmes and Libby Tett took first and second places respectively with Rhayader's Rheanna Morgan Rogers coming in an excellent third place to round off the top three spots.

Local rider Josh Rees Bradley took a hard earned third place in the sportsman class.