NOVICE mountainbiker Jason Knowell is on top of the sport just two years after starting cycling in the hills.

Jason, 29, from Glusburn, took part in his first serious race last September and was astonished when he finished 47th out of 1,300 racers at Builth Wells in Mid-Wales. It was then he decided to take the up the sport seriously.

"I went down to Terrain Cycles in Cross Hills and bought myself a decent bike and decided to train seriously," he said.

The hills around South Craven proved a perfect training ground as he started to clock up the miles with two mid-week rides each week, followed by a club run at weekends.

The building site machine driver decided to take on some serious competition by taking part in the Simba Series of four races which is held in Dalby Forest, near Pickering in North Yorkshire.

He impressed himself, and his fellow competitors by taking second place in the first race, and last weekend clocked up a superb win. Each race in the series covers 20 miles over three laps of the tough forest tracks.

"Halfway through the series I'm top of the leader board and now I'm looking to continue that success," Jason said.

Organiser Steve Imeson said: "Jason was completely stunned when he won. It is moments like that which make organising these events worthwhile."