Date: Friday 26 December 2014
Event: Charity Cyclo-cross Race
Location: Lady Dixon Park, Belfast
Host club: Phoenix Cycling Club
Many other sports have their Boxing Day fixtures, so why not cycling thought John Bogues from Phoenix Cycling Club. John had already ran a cyclo-cross event this season at Lady Dixon Park in Belfast so went back to Belfast City Council to seek permission to run an event on Boxing Day 2014. The event was open to riders aged 16 or over on cyclo-cross or mountain bikes with all proceeds in aid of some great local causes – Friends of the Cancer Centre, The Belgian Project & The Davy McCall Foundation. There was just one race at 12:30 on a new course which was very spectator friendly. Christmas music was provided by the McConvey family along with cups of steaming hot mulled wine. This went down well as the temperature was around 3 degrees with light rain falling. Just over 40 riders attended and lined up in one bunch waiting for the whistle to start 8 laps. It was no surprise to find David Montgomery (ChainReaction Cycles), Roger Aiken (Banbridge CC) and Glenn Kinning (Kinning Cycles) out in front. These guys are among the top riders in Ireland in cyclo-cross and they will be looking ahead to the National Championships on Sunday 11 January 2015 down in Swords. David was the clear winner today with Glenn getting past Roger on the final lap to have all 3 finish just under 50 minutes. Jason Henry, Barry Kellett (Dromara Cycling Club) and Graham Boyd (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) finished 4th, 5th and 6th respectively under 52 minutes. Junior rider Cameron McIntyre (Banbridge CC), Veteran rider Brendan Doherty (VC Glendale) and course designer and event director John Bogues (Phoenix CC) finished 7th, 8th and 9th respectively. The only female finisher was Emma Convey (DTC Orwell Wheelers) of the three who started.
Bottles of bubbly were handed out to David and Emma. More mulled wine was served and all left the park to return home for more turkey dinner!
Many thanks to the volunteers who came along to make the event possible.
Full results here
Report by Martin Grimley
Photos
David McVeigh (FlickR) – here
Toby Watson (Facebook) – here
