Date: Sunday 14 October 2018
Event: Ulster Cyclo-cross Series – Round 4 – 2018
Location: Palace Demesne, Armagh
Host club: Square Wheels
Round 4 of the 2018 Ulster Cyclo-cross Series took place on Sunday 14 October at Palace Demesne in Armagh. This was the second year that Square Wheels cycling club had hosted an event in this superb 300 acre park. As per last year the sun shone all day with bright blue skies. This was in contrast to the day before when there was heavy rain. The event took place towards the back of the park with the youth races being held in the garden of the palace which is now used as council offices. As before, sign on took place inside the 19th century glasshouse where the refreshments were served later on.
As usual, the first race of the day was the ‘fun’ race for the Under 6s. There were 21 young riders on the start line (15 boys and 6 girls) and they had to complete one lap of the youth course. A goodie bag awaited them at the finish line.
The Under 8s used the same course and had 2 laps to complete. Leading from the start was Rory McCool from the host club who took his first win of the series. Finishing second was fellow club rider, Eunan Campbell with Brodie Hull (Trail Demons CC) finishing third. Leah Hepburn (Island Wheelers) was the clear winner in the Under 8 girls’ race as she finished over a minute ahead of Skye Spence (Shimna Wheelers Cycling Club). This was Leah’s fourth win out of four events. Annie Ervine (Apollo Cycling Team) took the third spot on the podium.
The Under 10s race was held over 4 laps and saw the biggest field of youth riders on the day with 26 boys and 15 girls starting. Rhys Hepburn (Island Wheelers) powered round to take the win (that’s four out of four for him) with Ryan McBride (Banbridge CC) second and Daniel Daly (Phoenix CC) third. Finishing fourth overall was the first girl, Emer Heverin (Kinning Cycles) which was her fourth win out of four rounds of the Ulster series. Aoife Craig (VC Glendale) took the silver medal in this category with Maeve McCool (Square Wheels) taking third, another medal for the host club.
The Under 12s’ course extended further around the gardens. There was another big field of riders in this category with 20 boys and 12 girls taking on the 4 lap race. Repeating her terrific performance at rounds 1 and 2 Aliyah Rafferty (Island Wheelers), starting with the rest of the girls a few seconds behind the boys, managed to power past all the boys to take the overall win. Behind Aliyah was a close battle between the boys with Harry Hobbs (Killinchy Cycling Club) leading on the second and third laps but it was James Armstrong (Dromara Cycling Club) who took the win. Harry finished second with Carter Thompson (Maryland Wheelers) third. Tori Moffitt (Phoenix CC) finished as second girl with Cara Suckling (Maryland Wheelers) third.
After a break for podium and refreshments the next races took place out on the main course with the Under 14s, Under 16s and women lined up. Travis Harkness (Carn Wheelers) got his second win of the series in the Under 14 boys’ race which was held over 3 laps. Oisin Ferrity (Island Wheelers) finished second with league leader Shane Scullion (Island Wheelers) getting third. Aine Doherty (VC Glendale) took her third win of the series as she finished well over 2 minutes ahead of league leader Cara Moffitt (Phoenix CC). Keela Smyth (Apollo Cycling Team) rounded off the podium for the Under 14 girls.
Last week Darren Rafferty (Island Wheelers) was competing at the first round of the National Trophy Cyclo Cross race in Derby, England where he finished 13th out of 102 riders. He continued his show of form in the Under 16 boys race at Armagh when he finished over 2 minutes ahead of nearest rival, Somhairle Owens Fisher (Omagh Wheelers Cycling Club), in the four lap race. Joseph Owens (Omagh Wheelers Cycling Club) took the third place spot. Annie Roche (Scott Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) put in a great performance in the Under 16 girls’ race taking her third win of the series. Erin Creighton (XMTB) finished second with Maria McAllister (Island Wheelers) third.
Ciara Macmanus (Summit Mountain Biking) had only her second cyclo-cross race this season but took her first win of the series. Joanna Bula (Scott Eurocycles.com) finished second in the 5 lap race with junior rider Darcey Harkness (Carn Wheelers) third. First unplaced junior rider was Niamh McKiverigan (Powerhouse Sport) with Rachel Irvine (Bikehouse CC) finishing fifth. Another junior, Stephanie Roche (Scott Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club), finished sixth. Elizabeth Quigley (Foyle CC) won the Women’s mountain bike support race, her first win of the series, with Nicola Nelson (Apollo Cycling Team) second and Karen Wynne (Foyle CC) third.
Next up was the Men’s Cyclo-cross A’ race which was held over 7 laps. Missing from the line up was the top 3 riders from the series so this opened the door for the other contenders. Taking up the opportunity was Graham Boyd (McConvey Cycles) who lead from start to finish to improve on his third place from the previous round. Lewis Ferguson (The Bike House CC) was a late starter to the season but greatly improved from his 19th position at Round 3 to take second place. Newry Wheelers’ Alan Bingham won the support race at the UCI C2 event last week in Mallusk and continued his run of form to take third place at this round in Armagh. Christian Nachtigall (Phoenix CC) finished fourth and collected the first unplaced M40 prize. Ray O’Shaughnessy (Cuchulainn CC) and Kevin McKinney (Armagh City Cyclists) finished fifth and sixth respectively. Brendan Doherty (VC Glendale) had to work hard to hold off fellow M50 rider, Des Woods (Newry Wheelers CC) as they finished seventh and eighth place – Brendan collecting the first unplaced M50 prize. First unplaced Junior went to Ciaran Dixon (McConvey Cycles) with first unplaced Espoir going to James McCourt (Island Wheelers). Newry Wheelers won the team prize when Alan Bingham, Des Woods and Mark McKinley finished.
The final race of the day was for the Men’s Cyclo-cross B’ race and the Men’s mountain bike support race. Paul Ferguson (The Bike House CC) had the early lead in the CX race until lap 5 of 6 when Raymond Rocks (Island Wheelers) came to the front and stayed there to the end. Paul finished second. Dean Burnside (Island Wheelers) had his first race of the season and came away with third. Andy Layhe (Trail Demons CC) had his best result of the season finishing fourth with Lee Somerville (Lakeland) taking another fifth place and Marek Pluciniczak (Portadown Cycling Club) taking another sixth place. In the mountain bike support race Brian McAuley (Un-attached) lead from start to finish to take his second win in a row. Ciaran Donnelly (Termon Wheelers) finished second with Denver Irvine (Un-attached) third.
After each race the riders were able to get some soup and sandwiches which were laid on by the club. A big thanks to all the volunteers from Square Wheels for hosting this round of the series. A great day out in Armagh. The next round of the Ulster series takes place next Sunday at Musgrave Park in Belfast hosted by VC Glendale. Details on www.ulstercyclocross.com.
Report by Martin Grimley
Results here
League table after 4 rounds here
Photos
Philip Blair – here
Belgium Project – here
Bronagh Kirk – here
Richard Cowan – here and here
Video
Philip Blair – here
