The first round of the Ulster Cyclo-cross series 2023 took place on Sunday 1 October at St. Columb’s Park in Derry/Londonderry hosted by Foyle Cycling Club. This is the 15th year of the Ulster series. Remarkable it has been 5 years since we had last raced at this site. With the new bypass the journey to the city was quicker than in previous years. The weather forecast was looking good for the day with warm autumn temperatures and lots of blue sky. The only rain was a brief 5 minute shower during the last race of the day. Not enough rain to change the course conditions. As before, the main action took place on the running track with the sign on and registration tent located beside the track. All race starts and finishes were on the track as well.
The Under 6s had a new course this year. They started from the timing gazebo, down the running track, into the woods and then quickly back out again for a big sprint around the other side of the running track, around the bend and to the finish line. Well done to the 8 young riders.
The Under 8s course took them up into the woods. They had two laps to complete. Daithi Hughes (Square Wheels) was leading the boys’ race after lap one but had to retire. James Kavanagh (Lakeland) went on to win with Jack Corey (Apollo Cycling Team) second and Séan McGahan (Square Wheels) third. In the girls’ race Ríonach Campbell (Square Wheels) stormed around the course finishing ahead of all the boys. Ava Mowbray (Belfast City BMX Club) and Sally Mowbray (Belfast City BMX Club) were second and third respectively.
The Under 10s course was longer than the Under 8s and they had 4 laps to complete. The boys’ race was quite exciting with Leo Gallagher (Shelbourne/Orchard CC) and Lewis Bell (Lisburn BMX Club) neck and neck the whole race with Leo just pipping Lewis on the line. Conor McGahan (Square Wheels) finished third. In the girls’ race Ruby Millar (Square Wheels) put on another excellent performance to finish first. Fiadh Craig (VC Glendale) moved up from fourth to second with Ciara McCool (Square Wheels) third and Eabha Connolly (Square Wheels) fourth.
The Under 12s course was longer again and they also had 4 laps to complete. Daragh Quigley (Foyle CC) lead the boys’ race from start to finish. Jack McGahan (Square Wheels) was second with William Sunderland (Lisburn BMX Club) third. Aoife Campbell (Square Wheels) chased down the boys and managed to finish third overall, first girl. Amelia Finnegan (Square Wheels) was the second placed girl on the podium with Erin Corey (Apollo Cycling Team) third.
After a break for podium and medal presentations, the next set of races got underway with the Under 14s, Under 16s and women, all using the full course.
In the Under 14 boys’ race it was Eunan Campbell (Square Wheels) who took the win ahead of club mate Rory McCool (Square Wheels) with Corran McCourt (VC Glendale) third. Aoife Craig (VC Glendale) won the Under 14 girls’ race. Ava Baker (Breffni Wheelers) managed to get ahead of Clodagh Quigley (Foyle CC) for second and third respectively with Carmen Buchowicz (Team Caldwell Cycles) fourth.
In the Under 16 boys’ race it was another close battle between Curtis McKee (Scott Bright Motor Group) and Caleb McGreevy (VC Glendale) which came down to a sprint finish to the line. Curtis taking the gold, Caleb the silver and James Mackey (Foyle CC) taking bronze. In the Under 16 girls’ race Emer Heverin (Kinning Cycles Cycling Club) had a comfortable win. Maeve McCool (Square Wheels) finished second with Elisa Sunderland (Lisburn BMX Club) third and Lily Connolly (Square Wheels) fourth.
In the women’s race the lead kept changing between Junior rider Aliyah Rafferty (Island Wheelers) (who won at the National CX Series Round 1 this year) and newcomer to the sport Eimear Nicholls. In all came down to the sprint finish with Eimear taking the win just ahead of Aliyah. It turns out Eimear is a strong triathlete now dabbling in some winter mud cycling! Taking third place was Elena Wallace (Harps CC) with Trudy Brown (VC Glendale) finishing fourth and taking the first unplaced Masters prize.
After another break for podiums and course practice, the A’ race got underway. Leading from start to finish was Travis Harkness (Scott Bright Motor Group), who also won last week at the GP Brian Kinning event. Glenn Kinning (Kinning Cycles Cycling Club) finished second to Travis last week and finished second to him again this week. Barry Kellett (Dromara Cycling Club) is starting to get his form back making his way up from 8th to third. Jason Henry (Inspired Cycling) was fourth and picked up the first unplaced M50 prize. Declan McEntee (Emyvale CC) was fifth with David O’Neill (Inspired Cycling) sixth and picking up the first unplaced M40 prize. Peter Quigley (Foyle CC) picked up the first unplaced Junior prize with Aidan Lafferty (Island Wheelers) picking up first unplaced M60 when he finished just ahead of fellow M60 rider Fred Macsorley (Apollo Cycling Team). The team prize went to Inspired Cycling when Des Woods joined Jason Henry and David O’Neill at the finish line.
The final race of the day was the B’ race and the mountain bike support race. Robert Smyth (Apollo Cycling Team) was leading after lap 1 in the 4 lap B’ race but managed to break his rear mech and hanger which dropped him to 32nd on lap 2. Christopher McCann (Inspired Cycling) took over the lead but Ashton Moore (Strabane Lifford Cycling Club) got ahead of Christopher for the final two laps. With Ashton first and Christopher second the battle for third place came down to a sprint finish between Dariusz Buchowicz (Team Caldwell Cycles) and Gavin Clarke (Banbridge CC) with Gavin getting to the line just ahead of Dariusz to finish third and fourth respectively. Vinny Mort (Dunloy CC) and Niall James Murphy (Lakeland) were fifth and sixth respectively. There were only 3 riders in the mountain bike support race with Gerard Curran (Tir Chonaill Gap CC) finishing well ahead of Kieran Coyle (Foyle CC), who got stung by a bee during the race but still managed second place. Junior rider Calum McMonagle (Foyle CC) finished third.
Many thanks to all the volunteers from Foyle CC for putting on an excellent race. This is a great race venue and we hope to see it again next year. Those heading back east got great views of the Sperrins bathed in sunshine. Well worth the trip.
The next round will take place at CyclocrossNI in Portadown, hosted by Velo Cafe Magasin on Sunday 8 October 2023. This is a change of venue and host club as Florida Manor was in too poor a state for Killinchy Cycling Club to host their scheduled race. Details of the race will be on www.ulstercyclocross.com.
Commissaires: Jim Adams and Martin Grimley
Race report by Martin Grimley
Results here
Photos
Toby Watson (Facebook) – here
Oakleaf photography (Facebook) – here
