Anyone doubting whether Downieville deserves to be known as mountain biking Mecca needs only to read the number of competitors climbing through the cross country race in last weekend’s Downieville Classic.

No fewer than 610 mountain bikers raced Saturday’s cross country race, not to mention the additional riders who raced only in Sunday’s downhill.

Considering that pool of talent cranking through the hills, several area riders turned in impressive finishes in the two-day event. Leading the way was Nevada City pro Jason Moeschler, the three-time defending All-Mountain Pro champion.

Moeschler’s domination of Downieville came to an end — but not by much. Colorado’s Ross Schnell took first place in both the cross country and downhill races in the pro division. Moeschler was the runner-up in each race, finishing second to Schnell in the All-Mountain competition.

A trio of juniors, competing in the 13-18 year-old division, made a clean sweep in both races for western Nevada County. Nate Byrom won the cross country, downhill and All-Mountain title in the junior division, while Casey Sanchez finished second in each race and Greg Hermansen was third in each event.

Matt Wittler took fifth place in the Pro Men division of the cross country race, while Corina Bigham was ninth and Erin Moeschler 12th in the All Mountain Pro Women competition. Bigham took ninth in the cross country race and 10th in the downhill, while Moeschler finished 12th in each event.

Hyland Fisher finished 14th in the Expert Senior Men 19-24 division and Eddie Cruz was ninth in the Clydesdale Men category.

Rick Kalb took fifth place in the Expert Master Men 45-and-over division, in which Bob Weir was the 12th place finisher.

Dan Freitas finished second in the Sport Senior Men division, while Dora Weir was second in the Master Women division of the cross country race.