Date: Sunday 14 December 2014
Event: Ulster Cyclo-cross Championships
Location: Drum Manor Forest, Cookstown
Host club: Carn Wheelers
Carn Wheelers played host to the Ulster Cyclo-cross championships for the third year in a row at Drum Manor forest which is located outside of Cookstown in County Tyrone. There had been a gap of 3 weeks from the last round of the Ulster Cyclo-cross series and riders had been faced with the challenge of maintaining form while the weather turned cold with some snow and ice around. The race organisers had been on site on Saturday setting up the course which was covered in frost. Thankfully the night had been mild and overcast with no frost or ice issues. The club wish to thank the Forestry Service for the use of the venue which boasts ample car parking with a shower block on site as well as bike washing facilities. The course is a mixture of forest gravel roads, sections through the trees and a large event field which is on a slope to make for a tough finish. The youth races were all contained within the event field with all categories starting on the main forest road.
It was a day of mixed weather with a cool mild start to the day, which followed with light rain, then sunshine, then heavy rain, more sunshine then finished off with dry cold conditions. The rain came on again just towards the end of the prize giving but the crowd still stayed on to the end due, in no small part, to the much awaited raffle draw. The names were selected randomly from the laptop for the raffle prizes based on today’s pre-entry list. The final raffle on the day was for a fluorescent yellow Vitus Energie cyclo-cross which was sponsored by ChainReaction Cycles . This final raffle was drawn from the list of riders who had entered any of the 8 rounds of the Ulster series. After reading out around 20 names of people who were not present at the prize giving, Mairead McGurk’s name appeared on screen. Congratulations to Mairead.
The Ulster cyclo-cross championships are based on cyclo-cross riders aged 16 and over however the host club had put on the full range of support events for youth and mountain bike riders. First up were the Under 6s who had a simple circuit to complete starting from the fire road, up the incline, around the corner onto the grass and then sprint for the finish line. Odhran Ferrity (Island Wheelers) took the win ahead of Caitlin Hanna (Apollo CT) and Aisling Smyth also from Apollo CT. The Under 8s then lined up for four laps of their own specific circuit. The close battle between Harry Hobbs (VC Glendale) and Calum Hepburn (Island Wheelers) which has entertained the crowds over the last few months continued into this event. Harry took the win just a few seconds ahead of Calum with Thomas McAlinden (Apollo CT) finishing third. In the girls race Aliyah Rafferty (Island Wheelers) continued her great year by taking the win ahead of Tori Moffett (Phoenix CC) and Chloe McCartan (Apollo CT).
The Under 10s had a slightly longer course than the Under 8s to complete but the same number of laps. Riders from Island Wheelers filled the podium spots in the boys race and riders from VC Glendale filled the podium for the girls race. The usual suspects were on the podium as well with Adam Rafferty first, Oisin Ferrity second and Shane Scullion third, then Aine Doherty first, Lily Brown second and Sophie Osborne third. The Under 12s race course took in the Under 10s course but an extra section was added to keep them to a four lap race. Darren Rafferty (Island Wheelers) has been in terrific form all season and showed off his talent again by finishing almost one minute ahead of his closest rival and club mate Scott Roberts. Rowan Montgomery (Ballymoney CC) got the better of the usual third place rider Shea O’Kane (Phoneix CC) who had to settle for fourth. In the Under 12s girls race Maia Simmons (North Down CC) took the win ahead Lauren Hanna (Apollo CT) with Cara McKee (VC Glendale) taking the bronze medal.
The Under 14s, Under 16s and mountain bike support races for men and women lined up next. The Under 16s boys started first with the mountain bike men one minute later, then the mountain bike women and Under 16s girls on the same whistle. The Under 14s started one minute later. The Under 14s had 3 laps to complete while the others had 5 laps. Shea Kelly (Island Wheelers) took the win in the Under 16s boys race with Conal McKee second and Sam Dyne third.
Sam and his father Matt Dyne were visiting from Canberra Australia. They are on a six week European vacation starting in Ireland. They race cyclo-cross in Australia and had spotted that this event was going to be on when they were visiting. Matt had emailed weeks previously asking for the lend of a bike for the event. A bike was provided so we hope they enjoyed their day.
In the U16 girls race Niamh Skelly got the better of Emma Elder, both girls from the host club. In the mountain bike men’s race Joe Penny (Banbridge CC) crossed the line ahead of Sean Bradley (Carn Wheelers) with Thomas Hepburn (Island Wheelers) third. Trudy Brown (VC Glendale) continued her dominance of the women’s MTB support race taking another win. Alwynne Shannon (Newry Wheelers) was second with Ruth Aiken (Banbridge CC) third. In the boys Under 14s race Caolan McKee was back to winning ways finishing ahead of Ciaran Dixon (Phoenix CC) with Cathir Doyle (Carn Wheelers) third. In the girls race Sarah Elder (Carn Wheelers) took the win ahead of Ellie Kelso (East Tyrone CC) with Summer McGibbon (Apollo CT) taking her familiar third place on the podium.
The first of the championships cyclo-cross races then took place. This was for the Elite Women and MW (Masters Women), M40 (Veteran Men) and M50 (Supervet men). These new age categories have just been introduced by Cycling Ireland to align to the UCI categories. The women started together one minute ahead of the M40 men with the M50 men starting 30 seconds behind. The McCabe brothers from Cuchulainn Cycling Club put themselves at an immediate disadvantage by missing the start and having to chase after the riders in their category who had already entered the forest at the top of the fire road. In the Elite Women’s race Claire Oakley (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) and Gill Smith (Phoenix CC) had a great battle together with both leading the race at different times despite being in different categories. Unfortunately for Claire she punctured with 2 out of the 6 laps to go. This allowed Gill Smith a clear run to the finish as first woman overall with Lisa Millar (Dromara CC) now moving up to finish first Elite Women. Mairead McGurk (Carn Wheelers) finished second in the Elite Women’s category with Claire, after running with the bike back to the pits to exchange bikes, pushing hard to finish third. Gill was first in the MW category with Martina Hawkins (Dromara CC) second.
The M40 veteran race was probably the most exciting to watch. The top 5 riders were riding shoulder to shoulder or only a few bike lengths from one another. Colm McGarvey (Epic MTB) (who has recently moved back to Ulster), Des Woods (Newry Wheelers) and Jason Henry were locked together for the 6 laps as were the two Peters, Peter McConville (Newry Wheelers) and Peter Morrison (Northern/Dave Kane Cycles). Heavy rain started to fall in the latter half of this race but the crowd of spectators remained and were treated to a great sprint finish between Colm and Des with Colm getting the win by half a wheel. Jason crossed the line in third and behind him there was another sprint finish with Peter Morrison just edging Peter McConville for 4th and 5th place respectively. In the M50 race Johnny McCabe (Cuchulainn CC) proved that you can start from the car park and, with enough determination, chase down your fellow riders as he finished first in the category. Eamon McConvey (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) finished second with Deon McNeilly (Shimna Wheelers) third. For Ulster championship medals, Eamon would receive gold, Deon silver and Christopher McCann (Banbridge CC) bronze.
The final race of the day was for the senior men. The Elite men went off first, followed one minute later by the Espoir (Under 23) men, then 30 seconds later by the Junior men. They had to complete 8 laps of the now quite slippy course. As expected Glenn Kinning (Kinning Cycles) put on an exhibition of power from the whistle as he has done in the Ulster Cyclo-cross series this year. He was unchallenged for the win but his main competitor, Darnell Moore (Caldwell Cycles) an Espoir rider, who started one minute behind the Elite riders, had a great race as he managed to pass all the Elite men to finish second overall just 1 minute 19 seconds behind Glenn. Barry Kellett (Dromara CC) finished third overall, second Elite rider. Behind Barry was another sensational rider, James Curry (Banbridge CC) who had a great race with fellow club member Cameron McIntyre with James only gapping Cameron on the last lap. These two riders were in the Junior category, which started 90 seconds behind the Elite men but they rode shoulder to shoulder for 7 laps to finish 4th and 6th overall, first and second Junior. Finishing 5th overall was Graham Boyd (Xmtb McConvey Cycles), third Elite rider, which reflected his great cyclo-cross season. Third junior rider was Dylan Russell (Caldwell Cycles) with the remaining Espoir medals going to Stuart Ballantine (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) who had just returned from college in England, and Eunan McAleese (Carn Wheelers) taking the bronze medal. The team prize went to Carn Wheelers when Joseph McCrory and Johnny Taylor crossed the line in 7th and 8th positions and then Nigel Gibson crossed the line in 19th. A fitting end for the host club.
Once the riders got changed they headed to the food tent which was like a steam room with the hot soup cooking and the bodies squeezed in out of the cold. The soup was great and hit the spot on a winter’s day. The prize giving then took place with prizes for today’s race and the overall Ulster cyclo-cross series being given out. The raffle just got finished as the light faded on Drum Manor forest. Many thanks to the hard-working volunteers from Carn Wheelers for putting on a great event.
This ends the Ulster cyclo-cross season for another year but it does not end the racing opportunities. Phoenix Cycling Club is putting on a charity cyclo-cross race at Lady Dixon Park on Boxing Day. This is for riders aged 16 and over with one race, mass start for cyclo-cross and mountain bike support riders. On the 11 January 2015 the National Cyclo-cross championships will take place in Swords with races for the similar categories as today. More details of these two events to follow. See www.ulstercyclocross.com for details.
ULSTER CHAMPIONSHIP MEDALS
Elite Men
1. Glenn Kinning (Kinning Cycles)
2. Barry Kellett (Dromara CC)
3. Graham Boyd (Xmtb McConvey Cycles)
Elite Women
1. Lisa Millar (Dromara CC)
2. Mairead McGurk (Carn Wheelers)
3. Claire Oakley (Xmtb McConvey Cycles)
Espoir Men
1. Darnell Moore (Caldwell Cycles)
2. Stuart Ballantine (Xmtb McConvey Cycles)
3. Eunan McAleese (Carn Wheelers)
Junior Men
1. James Curry (Banbridge CC)
2. Cameron McIntyre (Banbridge CC)
3. Dylan Russell (Caldwell Cycles)
MW (Masters Women)
1. Gill Smith (Phoenix CC)
2. Martina Hawkins (Dromara CC)
M40 (Veteran Men)
1. Colm McGarvey (Epic MTB)
2. Des Woods (Newry Wheelers)
3. Jason Henry (unattached)
M50 (Supervet Men)
1. Eamon McConvey (Xmtb McConvey Cycles)
2. Deon McNeilly (Shimna Wheelers)
3. Christopher McCann (Banbridge CC)
Team Prize
Carn Wheelers
Joseph McCrory, Johnny Taylor, Nigel Gibson
Full results here (ver 2)
Commissaire – Martin Grimley
Report by Martin Grimley
Photos
Steven Lindsay (Google+) – here
David McVeigh (FlickR) – here
Carn Wheelers (own website) – here
