A return to sunshine and a sense of spring in the air for Round 3 of the Xmtb Spring Series which took place in Ormeau Park in Belfast on Sunday 25 March 2018. Round 2 had been cancelled due to the ‘Beast from the East’ weather front which had moved in. The series was then just held over 2 events.
Overall attendance figures were much lower than normal perhaps due to the lost of momentum with the cancelled round, families capitalising on the good weather and the school’s Easter break to head away, or the lure of road events or off-road events in Dublin or Donegal.
There was a squad of Ulster riders heading over to compete in the first round of HSBC UK National Cross Country series in Sherwood with a separate report to follow on their success.
Back to Ormeau Park and, as usual, the Under 6s ‘fun’ race started the day with 18 riders (14 boys and 4 girls) completing 2 laps of their course. Goodie bags were the reward for all when they passed the chequered flag.
Racing then moved over to the other side of the path. The Under 8s were up next and they had to complete 3 laps of their course. In the boys’ race Darragh Murphy (Rostrevor Mountain Bike Club) took the win as he finished just ahead of Ryan McKeown (Trail Demons CC) with Ryan McBride (Banbridge CC) third. Aoife Craig (VC Glendale) won the girls’ race with Aoife Kellett (Dromara Cycling Club) second and Sophie Ross (Rosco Lines) third.
Overall series winners were:
[U8] Ryan McBride (1st), Ryan McKeown (2nd) and Josh McClune (3rd)
[U8] Aoife Craig (1st), Aoife Kellett (2nd) and Sophie Ross (3rd).
The Under 10s had a longer course length and 4 laps to complete. Curtis McKee (Maryland Wheelers) stretched out a good lead over James Armstrong (Dromara Cycling Club) to take the win with Elliot Maitland (Killinchy Cycling Club) third. Taking the flag in the girls’ race was Cara Suckling (Maryland Wheelers) with Aisling Smyth (Apollo Cycling Team) and Emer Heverin (Kinning Cycles) taking second and third respectively.
Overall series winners were:
[U10] Curtis McKee (1st), James Armstrong (2nd) and Matthew Webb (3rd)
[U10] Aisling Smyth (1st), Emer Heverin (2nd) and Cara Suckling (3rd)
The Under 12s had to do 3 laps of a longer course than the Under 10s. Reuben Maitland (Killinchy Cycling Club) lead the race overall after lap 1 but had Aine Doherty (VC Glendale) on his wheel at that stage. Aine took over the lead of the race and went on to finish as first girl and first overall. Reuban finished first for the boys and over 40 seconds ahead of his nearest rival Conor Murphy (Rostrevor Mountain Bike Club) who was just ahead of Luke Webb (Trail Demons) at the finish. Cara and Tori Moffitt (Phoenix CC) completed in the podium in 2nd and 3rd place respectively for the girls.
Overall series winners were:
[U12] Reuben Maitland (1st), Harry Hobbs (2nd) and Luke Webb (3rd)
[U12] Aine Doherty (1st), Cara Moffitt (2nd) and Tori Moffitt (3rd)
The next race was for the Under 14s, Under 16s and Women. Many of the riders heading over to England to complete came from these race categories. As such there was only 2 riders in the Under 16s boys’ race, James Campbell (XMTB) and Chris Stewart (Maryland Wheelers) but this was actually one of the best races of the day as these two had close racing up until the final lap. On the final lap James pulled away to take the win. There were just 2 riders in the Under 14 boys’ race but this time James Webb (Trail Demons) had a comfortable finish ahead of Andrew Croskery (Killinchy Cycling Club). In the Under 14 girls’ race Erin Creighton (McConvey Cycles) took the win ahead of Keela Smyth (Apollo Cycling Team) with Ana McCrea (Maryland Wheelers) third. There were 6 in the women’s race which was dominated by Jill McClements (Killinchy Cycling Club) who a comfortable win. The race for second was closer in the early laps between Angie Smyth (Apollo Cycling Team) and Wannita Broome (Dromara Cycling Club) but Angie pulled a gap on Wannita to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Overall series winners were:
[U14] James Webb (1st), Andrew Croskery (2nd) and Oisin Ferrity (3rd)
[U14] Erin Creighton (1st), Keela Smyth (2nd) and Hannah Mullin (3rd)
[U16] James Campbell (1st), Chris Stewart (2nd) and Ben Wilson (3rd)
[U16] Darcey Harkness (1st) and Maria Mcallister (2nd)
[Women] Jill Mcclements (1st), Louise Friel (2nd) and Alison McMullan (3rd)
The final races of the day were the Junior men, Senior A’ men and Senior B’ men. Drew Armstrong (Killinchy CC) was the only Junior and just got a few seconds head start on the chasing A’ riders. Drew finished 5th overall.
For most of the A’ race there was a close battle for the lead between Colin Ross (Vitus / Acti-snack) and Conor Campbell (Newry Wheelers CC). Colin managed to pull away from Conor in the closing laps to take the win. Conor was second. Scott Maitland (Killinchy Cycling Club) had been holding third place for much of the race but was finally reeled in by Barry Kellett (Dromara Cycling Club) who took 3rd. Scott was fourth. One of the closest contests of the day was between David Broome (Dromara Cycling Club) and Barry Convery (Newry Wheelers CC). Barry had won the B’ race at the first round but then upgraded himself to get better racing, which he certainly did. Their contest came down to a sprint finish to the line.
In the B’ race, Mark Faloon from the host club improved on his third place at Round 1 to take the win in Round 3. Graeme Elliott (Bann Wheelers) finished second with David Ewart, also from the host club, finishing 3rd.
Overall series winners were:
[Junior] Drew Armstrong (1st) and Lee Harvey (2nd)
[A’ race] Scott Maitland (1st), David Broome (2nd) and William Boyd (3rd)
[B’ race] Mark Faloon (1st), Denver Irvine (2nd) and Michael Mcmullan (3rd)
Food and hot drinks were available after the races. A huge thanks to the volunteers from the host club Xmtb for putting on the series. Long may this continue. The first round of the Ulster Cross-country series will take place on Sunday 15 April at Craigavon Lakes hosted by Apollo CT.
Commissaires: Martin Grimley and Stephen McDonald
Round 3 Results here
Overall series results here
Report by Martin Grimley