Date: Sunday 20 September 2020
Event: Brian Kinning GP
Location: Orangefield Park, Belfast
Host club: Kinning Cycles
Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, which has cancelled lots of off-road cycling events this year, it was great to finally get back underway with some cyclo-cross racing. The opening event for cyclo-cross in Ulster was again the GP Brian Kinning which was held at Orangefield Park in East Belfast by host club Kinning Cycles. This is the fourth year of the memorial race is dedicated to Brian Kinning’s memory.
The host club had to work closely with Belfast City Council around the nature and size of the event. To accommodate the new guidelines the race schedule was reduced to just 3 races. Race 1 was for the Under 14s, Under 16s and Women. Race 2 was for the Cyclo-cross men’s B’ race with the final race of the day for the Cyclo-cross men’s A’ race. All registrations were done online with no new registrations on the day. There was signage, hand sanitisers and face masks.
Race 1 started at 10:00 with the Under 16 boys starting first, 30 seconds later the Under 14 boys, 1 minute later the Women (with one entry for the Under 16 girls), then the Under 14 girls. In the Under 14 boys’ race, Oisin May (Quanta Scott Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) was rewarded for his long drive to the event by taking a comfortable first place. Harry Hobbs (Killinchy Cycling Club) finished second with Carter Thompson (Maryland Wheelers) third. In the Under 14 girls’ race Rhiannon Dolan (Cuchulainn CC) finished first ahead of Aoibhinn Sharkey (Stamullen RC) with Mya Doocey (Navan Road Club) third.
In the Under 16 boys’ race Eoin Holmes (Cuchulainn CC) crossed the line first ahead of Adam Walsh (Carlow RCC) with Tom Russell (Carn Wheelers) third and Ryan Lynch (Foyle CC) fourth. Aine Doherty (VC Glendale) was the only Under 16 girl in the race setting some great times as she pulled away from the Women. In the Women’s race Darcey Harkness (Carn Wheelers) took the win finishing well clear of Junior rider Caoimhe May (Quanta Scott Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) with another Junior,
Roisin Lally (Scott Quanta Racing) finishing third. First unplaced Junior woman was Annie Roche (Scott Quanta Racing) who finished fourth overall.
The next race to start was the Cyclo-cross men’s B’ race. Riders were gridded based on how quickly they registered for the race. The whistle was blown at 12 noon with the riders making a half lap of the velodrome before heading out onto the grass. Richard Topping (The Bike House CC) stormed around the course well ahead of the rest of the riders showing that the B’ race was too easy for him. Making a return from an absence of 4 years was Adam Duff (Un-Attached Ulster) who finished second. Karl Love (VC Glendale) was third with Colm O’Bryne (Unattached) not far behind in fourth. Ivan Reid (Team Caldwell Cycles) was fifth with Sean McCourt (VC Glendale) sixth. In total there were 52 finishers in this race.
At 2 pm the final race of the day took place. The front row was based on the results from the National Championships back in January 2020. Junior rider Darren Rafferty (Island Wheelers) showed off this form to take the win ahead of the hard working Lee Harvey (VC Glendale). Darragh McCarter (Spellman-Dublin Port) had to work hard to keep third place as he was always being hunted down by Junior rider Dean Harvey (VC Glendale) who took the unplace Junior prize. Paul McCarter (Donegal Bay Cycling Club) was 5th and took the unplaced M40 prize. Peter McConville (Newry Wheelers CC) won the unplaced M50 prize.
After the races the riders were asked to disperse quickly. There was no food vans or prize ceremony. The event passed off successfully. Hopefully we can have a full season of racing without any lockdowns due to the pandemic.
Results here
Commissaires: Martin Grimley and Jim Adams
Report by Martin Grimley
Photo links to follow
