Date: Sunday 13 October 2013
Event: Ulster Cyclo-cross Round 2
Location: Lady Dixon Park, Belfast
Host club: Phoenix CC
Lady Dixon Park again proved its popularity among riders with a great showing of young and not so young taking part in the cyclo-cross race and support races. The sun was shining, it felt more like August than October and the park was looking magnificent. Local club Phoenix CC were on site from 6:30 am setting out the course which took in a great swathe of the grass area and the trees towards the upper end of the park. The club wish to thank Belfast City Council and the local park staff for their continued support. There was a full schedule of races for Round 2 of the Ulster Cyclo-cross series from the Under 6s through to the Under 16s, a mountain bike support race and two separate cyclo-cross race times.
New features this year to this circuit were the steps which were built the day before out in the grass area. These were decked out in McConvey cycle logos and filled in with sand at the back to encourage the cyclo-cross riders to dismount and run up. The start line was back in the usual place along the tarmac road with the sign on and cateing gazebos on a bank overlooking the track. Riders and their families started to arrive from 9:30 am to sign on. The first race of the day was the Under 6s fun race with the young riders on the start grid with parents lined up to run along side. There was a big turn out in this event as there was with all the other youth races. The mountain bike support race started alongside the Under 16s and Under 14s. For this round the cyclo-cross B’ race and the cyclo-cross female riders started together at 12:50. Their race took approximately 50 minutes. The A’ race lined up then for the 1:50 start and was a mixed race of seniors, juniors, veterans and the over 50s superveterans. Roger Aiken was absent this week due to work commitments but in his place was 18 time cyclo-cross champion Robin Seymour who had made the trip up, partly to enjoy the race and partly to check out the venue as Lady Dixon has been chosen for the 2014 cyclo-cross national championships which will be held on 12 January 2014. Robin went on to win the race with local rider Matthew Adair getting a mechanical on the last lap to deny himself a podium finish.
Report and results to follow.
Cyclo-cross A’ race
1. Robin Seymour
2. Evan Ryan
3. Tim O’Regan
4. Seán Ó’Tuathail
5. Ronan McGlaughlin
6. Glenn Kinning
7. Jason Henry
8. Barry Kellett
9. Matthew Adair
10. Aiden McDonald
11. Peter McConville
12. Tim Edgar
13. Stuart Galloway
Unplaced veteran – Jason Henry
Unplaced junior – Rory Maguire
Unplaced supervet – Johnny McCabe
Cyclo-cross Females
1. Claire Oakley
2. Gill Smith
3. Lisa Millar
Cyclo-cross B’ race
1. Thomas Hepburn
2. Bob Talbot
3. Raymond Rocks
Updated results here
Photos
Michael Armstrong (FlickR) – here
Steven Lindsay (FlickR) – here
Paul Anderson (Facebook) – here
Richard Stewart (Facebook) – here
David Stewart (FlickR) – here
David McVeigh (FlickR) – here
Peter Bennett (Facebook) – here
Eric Blayney (FlickR) – here and here
Mike Millar (Facebook) – here
Bronagh Kirk – here
Video
Cycling Ulster (YouTube) – here
Peter Bennett – rider view (YouTube) – here
The Imps video – Colm Watson (vimeo) – here
Commissaire: Jack Watson
Assistant commissaire: Martin Grimley
Report by Martin Grimley
