Date: Sunday 20 October 2019
Event: Ulster Cyclo-cross 2019 – Round 3
Location: Falls Park, Belfast
Host club: VC Glendale
Round 3 of the 2019 Ulster Cyclo-cross series took place at Falls Park in West Belfast hosted by VC Glendale. The club, whose kit is based on the Belgium colours, had Belgium flags hanging from the trees, Belgium flags on the podium and on the goodie bags. The park, already looking spendid in autumn colours, looked even more impressive with the flags and the many banners from the sponsors of the event.
There was light rain in the early morning when the course builders were on site. This dried up with a double rainbow greeting the riders as they started to appear at the venue from 9 am. The skies cleared to leave a bright blue expanse overhead which added to a wonderful day of cyclo-cross racing in the park. This was the fourth year that VC Glendale had hosted a CX race in the park and the event had attracted almost 360 riders. Sign on and catering took place inside the bowling pavilion. There was a newly designed set of steps placed close to the pavilion and an impressive double pit set up in the heart of the park.
All races started and finished on the tarmac path with the youth races taking place in a separate grass area to the left of the path. First up were the Under 6s for their ‘fun’ race which was two laps of a short course. The 18 young riders (12 boys and 6 girls) enjoyed the challenge and the goodie bag afterwards.
The Under 8s had 20 boys and 8 girls starting on their 3 lap race. Their course was longer with more sharp turns and the usual dismount obstacle. Daragh Quigley (Foyle CC) made it 3 wins out of 3 events in the boys’ race with William Sunderland (Apollo Cycling Team) second and Jack McGahan (Square Wheels) third. Aoife Campbell (Square Wheels) also made it 3 of 3 as she finished well clear of Amelia Finnegan (Apollo Cycling Team) and Cassie Rocks (Island Wheelers).
The Under 10s used the same course as the Under 8s but had 5 laps to complete. Darragh Murphy (Rostrevor Mountain Bike Club) managed to make it to the top step of the podium at this round as he beat the current series leader Josh McClune (Team Madigan C.C.) with Eunan Campbell (Square Wheels) finishing third. Aoife Craig (VC Glendale) made it 3 wins out of 3 rounds in the U10 girls’ race with Aoife Kellett (Dromara Cycling Club) taking second place and Isla Doherty (Apollo Cycling Team) taking third.
The Under 12s started further down the tarmac road but used the same course as the Under 10s, albeit with 8 laps to complete. There was the usual close racing at the front end of the boys’ race with Curtis McKee (Maryland Wheelers) managing to pull away from his competitors to take the win, his third of the series. James Armstrong (Dromara Cycling Club) finished second with Joshua Gallagher (Shelbourne/Orchard CC) third. Cara Suckling (Maryland Wheelers) won the U12 girls’ race with Sarah Jane Rocks (Island Wheelers) taking silver and Ffion Dolan (Cuchulainn CC) bronze.
With a break for podium presentations and a chance for the older riders to practice on the course, the next races started around 11:45, this time for the Under 14s, Under 16s and Women. The Women’s Cyclo-cross race was held over 4 laps of the main course with all other races held over 3 laps. In the Under 14 boys’ race Conor Murphy (Rostrevor Mountain Bike Club) took a comfortable win ahead of Reuben Maitland (Killinchy Cycling Club) with Oisin May (Scott Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) finishing third. This was Conor’s third win out of 3 events. In the Under 14 girls’ race, Aine Doherty (VC Glendale) repeated her win from Round 2 with some very impressive lap times, faster than the women in the more senior categories! Aliyah Rafferty (Island Wheelers) finished second with Tori Moffitt (Phoenix CC) third.
Travis Harkness (Carn Wheelers) won the Under 16 boys’ race with Niall McLoughlin (McConvey Cycles) second and Conor Gallager (Errigal CC) third. Erin Creighton (McConvey Cycles) finished ahead of Katie Reilly (Scott Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) in the U16 girls’ race. In the Women’s mountain bike support race Leona Farrell was back for the third time to take another win. Debbie-Lee Gaffney (Team Cavan Racing) finished second with Debbie Boyd (Apollo Cycling Team), now recovered from her big crash at Round 1, taking third.
In the Women’s Cyclo-cross race Niamh McKiverigan (Scott Eurocycles.com) put in four consistent laps to take an impressive win ahead of series leader Rachel Irvine (The Bike House CC) with Judith Russell (Phoenix CC) third. Fourth place went to Gill Smith who picked up the first unplaced Women’s Masters prize. Junior riders Caoimhe May (Scott Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) and Stephanie Roche (Scott Eurocycles.com) finished 5th and 6th respectively with Caoimhe getting the first unplaced Junior prize. Leah McCarthy (Team Giant Dublin) was 7th with road racing and time trialling star Eileen Burns (Ballymena Road Club) dipping her toes into the world of cyclo-cross and finishing in 8th place.
The next race was for the Men’s Cyclo-cross A’ race. This was held over 6 laps and had attracted a strong field of almost 80 riders. Junior rider Darren Rafferty (Island Wheelers) was leading at the end of lap 1 but it was series leader Graham Boyd (McConvey Cycles) who came through to take the win, his third of the series. Graham’s club mate Thomas Creighton finished third with ex-champion Darnell Moore (Caldwell Cycles Omagh) taking 4th. Timothy O’Regan (Team WORC) was 5th with Alan Bingham (Newry Wheelers CC) taking 6th place and first unplaced M40 rider. The first unplaced Espoir (Under 23) prize went to Lee Harvey (VC Glendale) who was 9th with first unplaced Junior prize going to Ciaran Dixon (Team Type 1 Junior Team). First unplaced M50 went to Peter Buggle (RockyMountain) who finished just ahead of race director Brendan Doherty (VC Glendale). The team prize went again to McConvey Cycles when William Boyd joined Graham and Thomas at the finish. This round had attracted an impressive 11 teams into the A’ race.
The final race of the day was for the Men’s Cyclo-cross B’ race with the Men’s Mountain Bike support race starting one minute later. The top two in the CX B’ race was a repeat of Round 2 with Tomas Knapcok (Clogher Valley Wheelers) and Mark Gordon (Newry Wheelers CC) taking first and second respectively. Paul Hamilton (Dromara Cycling Club) managed to squeeze into third place on the last lap with Colin Deane (Unattached) fourth, Geoff Alderdice (Dromore CC) fifth and Jamie Gregg (Dromore CC) sixth. In the mountain bike race, last week’s winner Sean McIntyre (Caldwell Cycles Omagh) repeated his win with Stephen Daly (Termon Wheelers) taking second and Brian McAuley (Unattached) third.
After the races the riders could enjoy some hot food from the chip van on site or head to the pavilion for soup and sandwiches. A great way to end the day. Many thanks to all those involved in hosting the event. The course looked very impressive. Many thanks to Belfast City Council for facilitating the event and to the sponsors for supporting the event.
The series now moves onto Round 4 which will be held at a new venue at Henry Jones playing fields on the Castlereagh hills by a new host club – Bike House. See details on www.ulstercyclocross.com.
Results here
Overall league table here
Commissaires: Lisa Millar, Jim Adams and Martin Grimley
Report by Martin Grimley
Photos
Belgium project – FlickR – here
Toby Watson – Facebook here
