ENGLAND'S mountain bike medal hero Liam Killeen has proclaimed the testing Rivington course as one of the toughest in the country.

The tricky circuit had earlier cruelly crushed Scottish rider Caroline Alexander's hopes by inflicting an irreparable puncture with the gold medal in her grasp.

Killeen then lifted the home nations' spirits with a brave ride to clinch the bronze in front of around 50,000 thrilled spectators, who packed the picturesque circuit.

But he admitted it was no ride in the park and declared it as testing as any the nation could offer.

"It's a very tough course," he said. "One of the toughest in England and definitely one of the hardest I have ever experienced. But the spectators were brilliant. The crowd and the atmosphere were excellent.

"I did go through a bit of a bad patch around the third lap but the crowd really helped me along. They were massive."

The race set off at a furious pace as Welshman Jamie Norfolk stormed into a surprise early lead.

But it was not long until world champion Roland Green worked his way up from 11th to first place and, with Canadian team-mate Seamus McGrath, opened up an unassailable advantage.

That left Killeen with the difficult task of riding alone in third place, trying to maintain the gap between himself and the strong Kiwi, Kashi Leuchs.

But, despite falling some 2mins 46secs behind eventual winner Green, he showed great character to control his own pace and clinch a place on the podium in 1.55.34.

"From the fourth lap, I knew I was riding at my limit," added Killeen. "So I wasn't really thinking about the leaders but more about trying to hold the gap between myself and fourth place, to keep me in the medals."

Green also paid tribute to the Rivington event.

"The atmosphere was amazing. To have so many people here cheering everybody no was great and I'm just really proud to have been here and won it for Canada," he said.