THE beautiful city of Alanya, which is in the south east of Turkey, was the venue for the Fourth International Mountain Bike Cup.

The event has now become firmly established on the international race calendar and Bury postman Steve McEwen has been invited back to Alanya after winning gold in consecutive years.

"With good fortune, let's hope it can be three in a row," said Steve.

Steve, who lives on Walmersley Road in Bury, is taking out six other riders as the Great Britain team manager. The invitation was extended to seven riders after Britain's success in Cappadocia in July when three of the four riders returned with silver medals.

Last year Steve and a junior returned with golds.

Steve has selected riders in every category of racing and they will be vying for a total prize fund of $12,000.

Steve's colleagues include the National Espoirs champion, Ian Wilkinson, and the Red Bull 24-hour solo endurance champion, Roy Hunt.

The invitation is funded by the Turkish Cycling Federation and is the brainchild of Abdurrahman Acikalin, the organiser of the triathlon mountain bike race, who has invited Steve to enter the Wolrd Cup Triathlon Series in Alanya three days after the mountain bike race.

The field for the race includes seven Olympians and the race includes a one mile swim, 25-mile bike race and six mile run.

The organiser insisted that just to finish in a respectable time would be an excellent achievement -- Steve is just hoping to finish, just as Olympian Simon Lessing is boarding his plane home.

Steve has been sponsored by Leisure Lakes who have supplied him with a brand new £2,000 road bike, which he hopes will help spur him on to more success.