THE Olympic mountain biking trail in Hadleigh is set to be repaired and a “legacy of the games” created after “significant” erosion closed the track.

Since hosting mountain biking during the London 2012 Olympics, Hadleigh Country Park has developed into a top sporting venue with one of the best mountain bike courses in the country, maintained by Essex County Council.

The Olympic mountain bike course is made from crushed sandstone and was designed to test the best athletes in the world.

However, a severe cold snap last February which damaged large sections of the trail forced it to close.

Most of the trail has been reopened following remedial work in the first half of last year but there have been a number of issues since then which have led to some of sections having to be closed off again.

Essex County Council is still working to repair those.

Mark Rowley, commercial operations manager for Essex County Council, said: “Some works were carried out but there are further remedial works that are still required.”

The Olympic Mountain Bike course is 5km long and consists of almost 1.7km of climb per lap and has a number of sharp technical descents and climbs.

The course has been split into three trails, Blue, Red and Black, with blue being the easiest and black being the most difficult.

The multi-user route which goes all around the park is 9km long.

It connects Benfleet station entrance to Leigh and up to the main Hadleigh Park buildings in a triangle, going through both the country park and mountain bike venue.

Councillor Mark Durham, deputy cabinet member for devolution, the arts, heritage and culture, said: “We are very mindful that the Haleigh bike trail is a Olympic legacy but the weather in recent winters has conspired against us and we are continually under the cosh if you like with increased usage and the erosion by mountain bike use is really quite significant.

“Although it is a fantastic feature to have in one of our country parks it is clearly an ongoing maintenance liability for us.

“But it is our intention to bring it back up to standard and maintain its usability for the mountain bike enthusiast.”