Date: Sunday 12 October 2014
Event: Ulster Cyclo-cross Round 2
Location: Lady Dixon Park
Host club: Phoenix CC
The sun shone again at Lady Dixon Park bathing the beautiful gardens in warm autumn sunshine. Bare legs and short sleeved jerseys were the order of the day for the riders who came along to take part in Round 2 of the Ulster Cyclo-cross series 2014. Host club Phoenix CC had been on site from first light setting out the course, setting up gazebos and getting ready for the tidal wave of entries, breaking all previous records. The club wish to thanks Belfast City Council for their support of the race and to the on site park wardens for their help. There were a few changes to the course set up with the youth races (for the Under 6s up to the Under 12s) now located in a section of the park close to the house. This grass area had been marked out so that it increased in length as the race categories moved up. For the senior race, the course had been modified in parts to run in reverse of last year as well as taking in new sections of the park. The plank jumps were located on a bank behind the finish line, the steps (with sand) were located close to where ‘carnage corner’ was last year. The course made great use of the grass areas of the park switching back and forward to take in the slope of the hill.
Racing got underway with the Under 6s which saw 34 young riders eager to go. Course designer John Bogues went off in front of the riders as they did 2 laps of the short circuit. Rhys Hepburn (Island Wheelers) took the win ahead of Emer Heverin (Castlereagh CC) with Patrick Elliott (Carn Wheelers) third. The Under 8s went off next for their four lap course. Calum Hepburn (Island Wheelers) and Harry Hobbs (VC Glendale) swapped positions for this round with Calum taking the win ahead of Harry. Curtis McKee (Maryland Wheelers) was third. Aliyah Rafferty (Island Wheelers) won the girls race ahead of Tori Moffit and Lucy Brown, both from host club Phoenix CC.
The Under 10s race used the longer course and had to complete 6 laps. John Bogues was still the lead out rider and was having to work hard to stay ahead of Adam Rafferty (Island Wheelers) who took a comfortable win ahead of club mate Oisin Ferrity with Jack Watt completing the podium. In the girls race Aine Doherty (VC Glendale) continues to impress as she took with win, finishing 5th overall. Lily Brown and Sophie Osborne had a close finish with Lily just taking second from Sophie making for a full podium for VC Glendale.
The Under 12s used the same course as the Under 10s but had to complete 7 laps. This time the lead out rider (Mr Bogues) had to retire as he could not keep ahead of Darren Rafferty (Island Wheelers) who, on his junior sized cross bike, was flying around the course over 30 seconds clear of his team mate Scott Roberts who was also clear of third place Dean Harvey (Xmtb McConvey Cycles). Maia Simmons (North Down CC) stepped up one place this week to the top spot on the podium with Louise Watson and Cara McKee settling for second and third respectively.
Action then shifted to the main course with the first of three large races getting underway. First off were the Under 16s who started a minute ahead of the mountain bike men’s support race, the mountain bike women’s race and then at the back the Under 14s who had 3 laps to complete while the others had 6 laps. Caolan McKee won the Under 14s race just ahead of Lee Harvey (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) with Ben Wilson (Dromara CC) taking third. Sarah Elder (Carn Wheelers) was the first girl with Summer McGibbon (Apollo CT) second and Kerry Beattie (Dromara CC) third. The Under 16s race was won by Thomas Creighton (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) ahead of club mate Adam Duff with Conal McKee taking third. Molly McLarnon (North Down) won the girls race ahead of Emma Elder and Niamh Skelly (both from Carn Wheelers). In the mountain bike men’s support race Johnny Reid (Kinning Cycles) made it two wins out of two finishing just ahead of a close battle between two Banbridge CC riders Simon Curry and Nathan Sturrock which finished in this order. In the MTB women’s support race there was a repeat podium from Round 1 with Trudy Brown repeating her win ahead of Kathryn Aiken (Banbridge CC) and Janice Hepburn (Island Wheelers).
The next race was for the Cyclo-cross females and Cyclo-cross B’ race men. The women started one minute in front of the men and had, for the first time, reached double figures with 11 on the start line. Claire Oakley (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) continued her winning form to finish ahead of Hannah Ormesher (DID Electrical Racing Team) with Lisa Millar (Dromara CC) getting onto the podium again. The B’ race men had a field of over 75 starters and was won by Cathal Grant (Newry Wheelers). Michael McMullan (North Down) finished second ahead of Brian Kellett (Lakeland CC).
The final race of the day was for the A’ race men which also had a big turn out of around 70 riders. Sean O’Tuatail (Bray Wheelers) took the win with a very close race for second between espoir rider Matthew Adair (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) and junior rider Cameron McIntyre (Banbridge CC) with Matthew just getting ahead of Cameron on the line. Reminder note to riders to wear their timing chips on their wrist and not on their leg. In this battle it looks like Cameron’s tag was ahead of Matthew’s but the line judges have to go by the front wheel crossing the line. A great battle guys! The unplaced juniors were James Curry (Banbridge CC), Dylan Russell (Caldwell Cycles) and Marc Heaney (Carn Wheelers). The unplaced espoir was Craig Rea (Phoenix CC), unplaced veteran rider was Aiden McDonald (Cuchulainn CC) and unplaced supervet was David Lawless (Team Worc).
Many thanks to the hardworking volunteers from Phoenix CC for running an excellent event and putting on a great display of food including hot food from the BBQ. The next round will be at Windmill Park in Dungannon on Sunday 19 October hosted by Island Wheelers.
Commissaire: Martin Grimley
Full results here
Photos
Marian Lamb (FlickR) – here
Eric Blayney (FlickR) – here and here
Phoenix CC / McConvey Cycles (Facebook) – here
David McVeigh (FlickR) – here
Bronagh Kirk (own website with report) – here
Toby Watson (Facebook) here, here and here
Powerhouse Sport (Facebook) – here
Video
Johnny McCabe (YouTube) – here
Gary McKeegan – Under 6s race (YouTube) – here
Alison Young – Under 12s race (YouTube) – here
