INNERLEITHEN'S Lewis Buchanan has spent most of his life in and around the Tweed Valley trails.

But the 25-year-old's stages on Sunday will live long in his memory.

The Ibis rider spent most the six-stage Whyte British Enduro Championship in a ding-dong battle with former Junior World Cup winner from Stow, Ruaridh Cunningham.

And in the end it was Lewis who triumphed by just 2.8 seconds.

Sunday's British Championships is the second biggest mountain bike race in Britain this year after the Fort William World Cup downhill.

And there was an entry list to prove it.

All the pro and team riders arrived in Peebles alongside hundreds of keen amateurs in a sold-out, 600 strong field.

All of them were gunning for the win on a tough course with over 50 kilometres to cover and upwards of 1600 metres of climbing.

Mark Scott (Santa Cruz X Sram), Leigh Johnson (Pole), Christo Gallagher (Progression), Joe Barnes (Canyon Facory Racing) and Gary Forrest (Ibis/Void) were all putting in storming runs on pristine tracks, but the real race was between two local heroes – Lewis (Ibis Factory Racing) and Ruaridh (Trek Factory Racing).

Pre race favourite Mark Scott took third.

In the women’s race, Katy Winton (Trek Factory Racing) was the hot favourite, and took the first two stages from Manchester's Bex Baraona (Ibis).

But a heavy collision with a tree on Stage Three turned the results the other way around, and from then Bex put in a fantastic ride to win all four remaining stages, taking the win by 42 seconds.

Junior rider Polly Henderson (Juliana) was third women overall – an incredible ride and a rider to watch.

For the first time ever, the BEMBA British Enduro Champions had their own jerseys, created by Swedish cycle clothing maker Void Cycling, with jerseys going to all the age categories including the Super Vets and notably, 14 and 15 year old riders, who had a chance to take part in a National Champs enduro for the very first time.

Male youth podium places went to Denholm-based William Brodie, followed by Jayden Randell and Peebles’ Ruaridh Johnson. For the girls it was Rachel Anderson who pulled on the Champion’s jersey with Melody Fife second.

In the Junior Men, there was an exceptional win by local rider Ben Balfour (TweedLove Race Team) who until a few weeks ago had been off his mountain bike due to wrist problems.

After a year out his first race back put him on the top step as British Champion, followed by TweedLove team-mate Calum Johnson in third and Louis Brooks taking second.

The Junior Women’s champion was the phenomenal Polly Henderson, followed by Martha Gill and Ella Connolly.

All the results are available via the TweedLove website.