BRIAN Northing rounded off his road racing season in fine style, by retaining his national veterans hillclimb title.

Ridingon Saintbury Hill in the Costwolds he turned in a stunning ride to hold onto the silverware with just three seconds separating the medal winners.

Northing's winning time of 8mins 10secs for the 1.3-mile climb, which has an average gradient of 1-in-6 was just one second faster than Lew Gardiner of Bristol, with Bill Barrie (Worcester) third in 8,mins 13secs.

Having ridden over the course three times in the previous two days Northing (Scotthall BMW) decided to make a measured start an pulled out all the stops over the last half mile to add gold to the bronze he won earlier in the year in the hilly time trial championships.

"I knew this type of event was my best chance of a medal so I put a lot of effort into my preparation," he said.

n Cross Hills sprinter Ian George picked up a bronze medal at the World Masters Track Championships in Manchester -- and yesterday was going for gold.

He took three seconds of hie personal best in the 1k time trial to take bronze behind USA-based Brit Anton Quist and American Adam Wilk.

"I was riding my new bike with special tyres - and I even had the club hairdresser there to sort my hair out before the presentation - brilliant," he said.

Yesterday he was riding in the sprint event with dreams of a gold medal tantalisingly close.

He spoke to KN Sport from the Manchester Velodrome during the event. "I have qualified with another personal best time and was only beaten by a rider from Trinidad and a competitor from the USA so there is everything to go for.

"It is quite a long day and difficult to keep building up the adrenalin for a race and then bringing yourself down to rest before the next heat. I just hope everything keeps going well," he said.