THE final round of the Maldon and District Cycling Club’s winter cyclo-cross series saw the best field of the winter assembled for a final mud-laden head-to-head.

The main focus was on series leader Mike Tyas, previous winner Neil Chapman and first-timer Scott Cousins.

Nineteen-year-old Tyas, with a win and two second places to his credit this season was all but assured the series win so long as he stayed out of trouble.

Nursing an injury from a training crash the previous week and a sore head following a 250-mile drive through the night following a trip to Manchester Velodrome to see the track World Cup meeting the previous evening, it was perhaps as well for him that a high-scoring ride was not a necessity.

Chapman was only coaxed back into racing and cyclo-cross after Christmas due to pressure from other keen team-mates to train hard and get fit for the forthcoming road season.

Cousins has proved to be the surprise package in the club.

Turning from triathlon to cycle racing last summer, he almost instantly became a front runner in all the races he rode, winning the Victoria CC road race, near Newport, in September.

He successfully managed to ignore pressure to have a go at cyclo-cross until the final race of the year and left wishing he had taken the advice of his team-mates months earlier and had a go sooner.

Unsurprisingly, these three dominated a race which was run off on extremely waterlogged ground.

Chapman and Cousins were riding mountain bikes which, although giving a slight weight penalty, were better suited to the soft ground than the thinner tyres of Tyas’ cyclo-cross bike.

Chapman soon forged ahead with Cousins chasing hard and Tyas not far behind.

This remained pretty much the pattern for the entire race, with Chapman hitting the finish line first, ahead of Cousins.

In the later stages of the race, Tyas slid off on a very muddy bend, losing a little ground, but was soon up and running again before any of the rest of the field could get anywhere near him.

His third place on the day confirmed his overall series win by a large margin.

Runner-up in the series and first over-40 rider was Steve Bass, with Chapman taking a bronze medal.

Other series awards were very evenly spread.

In the younger age groups, George Wood and Samantha Parker were under-16 Youth winners with Lucy Harper under-14 girl and George Bass under-12 boy.

Senior Lady was Rebecca Hammond followed by Mel Harper.

Over-40 Lady was Sue Wood with over-50 and over-60 men’s places occupied by Mick Smith and Brian Dixon respectively.

Now the road season beckons.

Chapman and Cousins are first off the blocks with confirmed places in the Crest Road Race, near Newport, on March 6.

The Maldon club’s first road-based promotion is a hilly, 18-mile time-trial, on March 20, based at Woodham Walter and covering two laps of a nine-mile circuit which climbs North Hill, Little Baddow.