Date: Sunday 27 October 2019
Event: Ulster Cyclo-cross 2019 – Round 4
Location: Henry Jones Playing Fields, Belfast
Host club: The Bike House Cycling Club
Round 4 of the Ulster Cyclo-cross series was held at a new venue – Henry Jones Playing Fields in Belfast, by a new club to the series – Bike House CC. The venue is situated on the top of the Castlereagh hills and has a great vista of the city of Belfast below. The site is mostly used for football but does lend itself to cyclo-cross with wooded areas, banks, a gravel pitch for the pits and super facilites on site in the form of changing rooms with hot showers! It might have been the club’s first cyclo-cross event but the course designers have had many year’s experience hosting similar events with other clubs. The weather was perfect for the photographers with clear blue skies all day. There was, however, a cold wind that blew across the site to remind everyone that winter was coming. The finish line for all races was close to the car park which suited the spectators. Also close by were the plank obstacles for the senior races.
First up were the Under 6s in their ‘fun’ race. A big turnout of 24 riders who completed 3 laps of a short circuit. Lots of cheering and lots of smiles. A great start to the day.
The Under 8s used the same short circuit but had an extension past the timing tent, a 180 degree turn and an off-camber climb. These young riders flew around the circuit with just a few tumbles on the off-camber. Leading from the start to get his 4th win out of 4 rounds was Daragh Quigley (Foyle CC) with Jack McGahan (Square Wheels) second and Oscar McBride (Dromara Cycling Club) third. First of the girls was Amelia Finnegan (Apollo Cycling Team) with Cassie Rocks (Island Wheelers) second and Eloise McAuley (Unattached) third.
The Under 10s had a longer lap taking in a circuit of the football pitches. Eunan Campbell (Square Wheels) got his first win of the series as he finished ahead of series leader Josh McClune (Team Madigan C.C.) with Darragh Murphy (Rostrevor Mountain Bike Club) third and Ryan McBride (Banbridge CC) fourth. In the girls’ race Aoife Craig (VC Glendale) made it 4 wins out of 4 rounds with Aoife Kellett (Dromara Cycling Club) second and Clodagh Quigley (Foyle CC) third.
The Under 12s race continues to be one of the highlights of the series. As usual it was James Armstrong (Dromara Cycling Club) and Curtis McKee (Maryland Wheelers) battling it out. James got the gap on Curtis early on in the 7 lap race but on the final lap Curtis started to close him in. It was a sprint to the line with James just managing to hold onto his lead. Such excitement! Elliot Maitland (Killinchy Cycling Club) was the nearest rival to these pair and his third place matches his third place in the overall league standings. Cara Suckling (Maryland Wheelers) made it 4 wins out of 4 in the girls’ race with Elisa Sunderland (Apollo Cycling Team) taking second and Edith Murphy (Rostrevor Mountain Bike Club) getting her highest finish of the series so far taking third place.
After the usual break for podiums and practice the Under 14s, 16s and Women lined up. Their start was further away, between the pitches which allowed a long run into the main course. The Under 16 boys started first, followed by the Under 14 boys, Women’s Cyclo-cross racers, Under 14 girls and then the Women’s Mountain Bike Support race. The Under 14 boys’ race was held over 4 laps. Reuben Maitland (Killinchy Cycling Club) and Sam Coleman (Orchard CC) took first and second place. As they were both tucked in behind the Under 16 boys they managed to do an extra lap before they were finally stopped! Seth Dunwoody (Shelbourne/Orchard CC) took third place with series leader, Conor Murphy (Rostrevor Mountain Bike Club), having to settle for 4th. A low turn out for the Under 14 girls’ race left Tori Moffitt (Phoenix CC), Aoibhinn Sharkey (Stamullen RC) and Eva Daly (Phoenix CC) to compete against each other with the podium places going in this order.
The Under 16 boys had 5 laps to complete with Shane Scullion (Island Wheelers) finishing almost a minute ahead of Andrew Kelly (Moynalty Cycling Club) with Curtis Neill (Carn Wheelers) taking third. There were no entries for the Under 16 girls’ race.
Despite having been out for a training ride for 3 hours, Niamh McKiverigan (Scott Eurocycles) turned up and won the 7 lap Women’s Cyclo-cross race. Rachel Irvine from the host club took second place with the next four places going to Masters women – Judith Russell (Phoenix CC) taking third, Trudy Brown (VC Glendale) finishing 4th and taking the unplaced Masters prize, Julie Rea (Phoenix CC) was 5th and Gill Smith was 6th. First unplaced Junior went to Maia Simmons (The Bike House CC).
The Women’s MTB support race seen a new winner with Claire McGeever (Unattached) trying the series for the first time and taking the win ahead of Joanne White (Drogheda Wheelers) who was also new to the series. Series leader Leona Farrell (Unattached) finished 3rd with Debbie-Lee Gaffney (Team Cavan Racing) 4th.
The next race was for the Men’s Cyclo-cross A’ race. This was held over 9 laps. Leading on the first lap was Espoir rider Lee Harvey (VC Glendale) with Graham Boyd (McConvey Cycles) second and Junior rider Dean Harvey (VC Glendale) third. As the race went on Graham and Lee battled it out for first place but Graham managed to pull away to take the win, his third of the series. Lee finished second with Lewis Ferguson from the host club taking third. Darragh McCarter (Donegal Bay Cycling Club) continues his strong performance this year taking 4th with Barry Kellett (Dromara Cycling Club) finishing 5th and taking the first unplaced M40 rider. Ex-champion Darnell Moore (Caldwell Cycles Omagh) finished 6th. Dean took the first unplaced Junior prize when he finished in 9th place. First unplaced Espoir was Caolem McCarter (Donegal Bay Cycling Club), who finished ahead of Espoir rider Kyle Fisher (Lakeland) (although this was announced incorrectly on the day). First unplaced M50 went to John Bogues (Phoenix CC). There were 6 teams in contention for this round with VC Glendale taking the win when Sean McCourt joined Lee and Dean Harvey at the finish.
The last race of the day was for the Men’s Cyclo-cross B’ race and the Men’s Mountain Bike Support race. Colin Deane (Unattached) has had two 4th place finishes this season but managed to put it all together to take the win in the CX race. Mark Gordon (Newry Wheelers CC) took his third 2nd place of the season with series leader Tomas Knapcok (Clogher Valley Wheelers) finishing third. Mark and Tomas have now exceeded the maximum points for B’race and are obliged to race the A’ race for the rest of the season. John Scott (Shelbourne/Orchard CC) finished 4th with Geoff Alderdice (Dromore CC) 5th and Paul Ferguson from the host club taking 6th. In the Men’s MTB support race
Sean McIntyre (Caldwell Cycles Omagh) took his third win of the series finishing ahead of series leader Brian McAuley (Unattached) with Denver Irvine (Unattached) third.
Once the races were over the riders could get a hot shower in the excellent changing facility and hot food from the vendor onsite. Many thanks to all the team from Bike House CC for hosting this event. Thanks to Belfast City Council for accommodating the event and to the sponsors who supported the race. We look forward to returning to this site in the future. The next cyclo-cross race in Ulster takes place on Sunday 3 November at Mallusk Playing Fields hosted by Kinning Cycles. This event is not part of the Ulster series but should provide all the same fun in the mud. Round 5 of the Ulster series takes place on Sunday 10 November at Donard Park in Newcasle, hosted by Shimna Wheelers. Details of the races can be found on www.ulstercyclocross.com.
Results here
Overall league table here
Commissaires: Lisa Millar, Jim Adams and Martin Grimley
Report by Martin Grimley
Photos
Belgium project – FlickR – here
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George McNeill – Facebook here
