IT WAS a case of mud, sweat and cheers as Beth Crumpton sealed victory in round three of the National Trophy and secured her first win in the Elite women’s race.

The Redditch rider, who travelled through the night to Durham after competing in the European Championships in Holland the previous day, clinched the race on the final lap from leader Amira Mellor.

Crumpton, who had finished 13th in under-23s age category at the European Championships, said: “I travelled overnight so I wasn’t sure how the legs were going to feel today, but I was happy to see it muddy because that slowed it down for me after yesterday’s really fast one. I was feeling a bit of tiredness in the first few laps.

“I wanted to see what was in front of me and try and pick my way through.

"On the last lap I could see Amira was tiring a bit and I just acted on it. This is my first National Trophy win ever.”

Both Crumpton and Mellor had a strong start, leading the race out around the cricket field and setting a fast pace on the slippy surface with both riders always doing well on a muddy course.

Payton and Annie Simpson were a few bike lengths behind but the gap would soon increase.

As the race completed the first lap Mellor passed Crumpton and sprinted away. Crumpton looked to be feeling the effects of a long weekend and could not respond to the attack.

Mellor, who took her first victory 12 months ago, looked to be on track to reproduce that win.

As the race Crumpton began to find her lines and was still in sight of the leader.

The status quo remained the same until the final lap when Mellor took a final pit visit to change bikes, while Crumpton took the chance to take the final half lap without a clean bike.