THE prolific national mountain biking champion, Tumelo Makae successfully retained his title over the weekend when he won the 8.5km National MTB Championship XCO recording 1:34:27.

The grueling race was held in Ha Tšiame, Maseru on Saturday.

Makae who competed in the Men’s Elite category was followed closely by Eric Ramohanoe in 1:37:06 with third-placed Phetetso Monese recording 1:46: 50.

In the Junior Men’s 6.5km category, Kabelo Makatile finished ahead of the pack in 1:25:54, runner-up Toka Kelepa clocked 1:27:10 with ’Musa Rantsoti on third position in 1:32:09.

Veteran Pitso Posholi dominated in his category, finishing the 6.5km race in 1:26:49 followed by Bahlakoana Shelile who recorded 1:33:56 and Joseph Adams on third position in 1:45:09.

Only Tšepiso Lerata competed in the Girls’ Junior 6.5km category.

Seutloali Morie won the Under-12 Boys 3.5km section and was followed by Mahase Makatile.

In a post-race interview, Makae told Metro that he was satisfied with both his performance and time.

“I came to this race well-prepared after performing poorly at the South African Sani2C Stage Race in Durban last weekend due to a mechanical problem on my bike,” he said.

According to the Federation of Cycling Lesotho (FCL) publicist Malefane Morie, there were no contestants in the Elite Women category, including the defending national champion Likeleli Masitise.

“We only had participants in the Under-23 Women category but none of them finished the course,” he said.

Morie noted that the winners only received points and International Cycling Union (UCI) rankings.