WITH 118 riders on the start line, the latest Devon Delight cycle ride was one of the most successful in its 16-year history.

Mark Le Breton, who had been training for the 1,400-kilometre London-Edinburgh-London event later this month until a knee injury ended his hopes of completing that epic, was the first man home.

Le Breton completed the 60-mile course in around three hours.

The Delight, organised by the Devon Cyclists' Touring Club, took the riders from Newton Abbot, over Haldon, down to Dawlish, to Exeter, Thorverton and back to Newton via Longdown, Dunsford and the Teign Valley.

It is not a race, and the main problem facing the field were stretches of loose stones left by 'surface dressing' work and a series of sharp showers.

An hour before the Delight riders left Newton, 30 more cyclists set off on the 200K Torplex Challenge.

The Challenge followed the Delight course until setting out across Dartmoor. It returned via Princetown, Plymouth and the South Hams.

The unsung hero, after a gruelling ride made tougher by rain and South-West winds, was Torbay CTC's John Antrobus, who was the last man home — in the dark.

CTC Devon's next event is a cycling Treasure Hunt at Escot near Exeter on July 19.

Entries are also open for the South Hams Audax rides on September 6.