The first round of the 2024 National Cyclo-cross Series took place on Sunday 6 October at Falls Park in Belfast, hosted by VC Glendale. The park had been adorned in the Belgium colours that match the club’s kit. The scaffolding had returned to create a set of steps, the banks up at the football pitches were back. It is a great venue for cyclo-cross. This year the club could not use the central park area for parking as the council had just spent a lot of time and money seeding the ground for next year. The course design was similar to last year with the tarmac avenue being used for the start/finish straight with the youth courses off to the left of the path and then the main course taking in the rest of the park. Cycling Ireland were also able to put on a coaching session using the youth course after the youth races. Tony, the usual race commentator was not available today but Aine Doherty stepped up to the mic to take over the role for the first time. Well done Aine. There were 250 entries this year with riders starting to appear just before 9 am. There were some light showers in the morning. The predicted rain did arrive in the afternoon and was heavy at times. All those who attended last year will remember the heavy rain then as well.
The Under 6s race for the first to line up. Along the start line were 6 boys and 5 girls and they had 3 laps of a short course to complete. All were provided with a goodie bag at the finish.
Next up were the Under 8s. They started further down the tarmac avenue and had 2 laps of a longer course than last year. Leading from the whistle was Evan McTavish (Western Lakes CC). Evan took the win in the boys’ race. Max Beattie (Square Wheels) was second with Fiachra Connolly (Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) third. In the girls’ race it was Zara Aiken (Banbridge CC) who crossed the line first ahead of Elisa Tyszecka (Un-Attached Munster) with Sol Lally (Ballinasloe Cycling Club) third.
The Under 10s race was held over 4 laps of a longer course than the Under 8s. Jaxon Jennings (Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) put on a strong performance to take the win in the boys’ race. Lorcan Lamont (Ilkeston Cycle Club), who travelled over from Lincolnshire, finished second. Josh Ruddell (Shelbourne/Orchard CC) was third. Despite starting a few seconds behind all the boys, the first girl, Ríonach Campbell (Square Wheels), managed to finish third overall. Second placed girl was Ciara McCool (Square Wheels) with Robyn McDermott (Un-Attached Leinster) completing the podium.
The Under 12s used the same course as the Under 10s but they had 7 laps to complete. There was a great battle in the early laps between Benjamin Cunningham (Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) and Lewis Bell (Shelbourne/Orchard CC) for the overall lead. Benjamin managed to pull away from Lewis but it was the first girl, Aoife Campbell (Square Wheels) who gave chase to Benjamin and was only a second behind him at the finish line. Lewis was the second boy to finish with Daniel O’Sullivan (Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) third, Max McGrath (Fermoy Cycling Club) fourth and Tadhg Connolly (Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) fifth. Second girl was Molly Turner (Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) with Caroline Collins (Sliabh Luachra Cycling Club) taking the bronze medal.
After a break for podium presentations and course practice it was time for the Under 14s, Under 16s and Women to race. The starting order was Under 16 boys, Under 14 boys, Women, Under 16 girls, Under 14 girls. All had to race over the full circuit.
The Under 16 boys were the first to start on their 4 lap race. Caleb McGreevy (VC Glendale) and Shane O’Brien (Fermoy Cycling Club) had a good battle at the front of the race. Shane had managed to get ahead of Caleb on lap 3 but Caleb had the stronger final lap and took the win. Shane had to settle for second place. Eoin Davis (Bohermeen CC) was third, Conor Regan (Kilcullen Cycling Club Murphy Geospacial) was fourth and Evan Byrne (Carlow RCC) was fifth.
In the 4 lap Under 14 boys’ race James Cunningham (Team WORC) took the win with Rory McCool (Square Wheels) second and Tomás Connolly (Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) third. The Under 14 girls did 3 laps. Ava Baker (Breffni Wheelers) took the chequered flag with Lilly McDermott (TC Racing) second, Laoise Crinion (IMBRC) third and Eleanor Rafferty (Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) fourth.
In the 4 lap Under 16 girls’ race Emer Heverin (All human/VeloRevolution Racing Team) crossed the line ahead of Katie Turner (Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) with Aoife Craig (VC Glendale) third and Naoise Byrne (TC Racing) fourth.
In the 6 lap Women’s race Junior rider Greta Lawless (Team WORC) lead from the start. Caoimhe May (Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club), who had just won the National Hill Climb Championships yesterday, finished second with Doireann Killeen (Kilcullen Cycling Club Murphy Geospacial) third. For the podiums the top 3 junior women, senior women and masters women were awarded. Joining Greta on the podium for the Junior prizes was Holly McCaffrey (Longcourt Hotel – NCW Wheelers). The top 3 Senior women were Caoimhe May, Doireann Killeen and Stephanie Roche (Scott Racing IRL). The top 3 masters women were Jean Wilson (EPIC MTB Expert Cycles) (1st), Sally Drennan (Midleton CTC) (2nd) and Aishling O’Connor (Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) (3rd).
The next races were for the Masters M50s, M60s and the Support race for the mountain bikers / gravel bikes with wide tyres. All were doing 6 laps. In the M50s race Barry Convery (Newry Wheelers CC) got to the front on lap 2 and stayed there to the finish. Declan McEntee (Emyvale CC) finished second with Peter Morrison (Velo Cafe Magasin) third. David McKee (VC Glendale) was fourth with Jay McCauley (Strabane Lifford Cycling Club) fifth. Only 2 out of the 5 who registered for the M60s race turned up. UCI 2023 Masters Cyclo-Cross World Champion (65-69) Johnny McCabe (Cuchulainn CC) was back for another season. He was joined by Kevin McDowell (Un-Attached Ulster). Johnny soon made his way up through the M50s to finish just behind the top 3. Kevin McDowell would have finished in the top 15 of the M50s.
In the Support race Paul Beattie (Un-Attached Ulster) took the win with Martin Conlon (Un-Attached Ulster) second and Gerard Curran (Tir Chonaill Gap CC) third.
The final race of the day was for the Junior men, Seniors and M40s. The Seniors and M40s had 8 laps to do with the Juniors to complete 7. The heavy rain did play a part in the deterioration of the course. The riders could have done with one less lap.
In the Senior race the lead changed between Robin Seymour (Team WORC) (2022 European Masters Cyclo-cross Champion 50-54), Tadhg Killeen (Kilcullen Cycling Club Murphy Geospacial) and Darnell Moore (Team Caldwell Cycles). On the final finish it was Tadhg Killeen who outsprinted Robin Seymour to the line. Darnell Moore had to settle for third. Richard Barry (St. Finbarrs CC) was fourth with Graham Boyd (McConvey Cycles) fifth and Gavin O’Connell (Team WORC) sixth.
At the Junior men’s start the spectators watched the riders take off up the tarmac path and then saw Elliott McKeegan and Hugh Og Mulhearne veer off the tarmac onto the grass. Hugh had had a bike issue but both go underway again quickly. At the front of the pack was Curtis McKee (Spellman-Dublin Port) who lead from start to finish. Ryan Daly (Scott Racing IRL) was second with James Armstrong (VC Glendale) third and Ciaran O’Sullivan (Greenmount CA) fourth.
In the Masters M40 category Ronan O’Flynn (Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) took the win with Frank McDermott (Oldcastle CC) second and Barry Kellett (Dromara Cycling Club) third. Behind the top 3 were Evan Ryan (Team WORC) in fourth, Joseph Donworth (Greenmount CA) fifth and Trevor Costello (Islandeady Cycling Club) sixth.
A huge thanks to all those from VC Glendale for again, putting on a top quality event. A big thanks to Belfast City Council for permission to use the park and to the park wardens for their support. Thanks to all those who came together to make this happen. A great start to the national series. The next event in the calendar will be the UCI C2 race at Clonmel (12-13 October). The next round of the national series will take place on Sunday 27 October in Petersburg, Co. Galway hosted by Western Lakes.
Commissaires: Jim Adams, Martin Grimley
Results (PDF) here
Report by Martin Grimley
Photos
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