Date: Sunday 27 May 2012
Event: Ulster Series Round 2, NPS Round 4
Location: Lady Dixon Park, Belfast
Host club: Xmtb McConvey Cycles
The sun was shining on Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park in Belfast on Sunday 27 May 2012 for the second round of the Ulster Cross-Country Mountain Bike Series. Host club Xmtb McConvey Cycles had been working closely with Belfast City Council who are a great supporter of our sport and have invested significant money into providing gravel cycle trails throughout this park and other local council parks.
This round was also labelled Round 4 of the Irish National Point Series (NPS) which therefore attracted riders from across the island of Ireland including a big showing from clubs from the Killarney area where Mountain Bike Club Cork (MBCC) who will be hosting the next round of the NPS on 10 June 2012.
As always the host club had provided a well organised start/finish area marked by pedestrian barriers, a bouncy castle for the younger ones and chip timing for the Under 14s and older riders.
The first race of the day was for the Under 8s and, as usual for this venue, there was a big group of eager riders at the start line, 20 boys and 8 girls. As for all other races later on, the Under 8 riders were gridded according to the latest NPS league tables. The Under 8s had 2 laps of the mini course to complete which took them into the single track among the trees on both sides of the open green space used for the start/finish area. Phoenix Cycling Club’s Shea O’Kane took the win with Lewis Armstrong (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) just 5 seconds behind him. Completing the top 3 was Thomas Neville from Spires CC with Neil Kelso (East Tyrone CC) 4th, Jack Watt (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) 5th and Zak Tsoutsas (Dromara CC) 6th. The girls started 15 seconds behind the boys and there was another close contest for first place with Sara Doyle (Spires CC) just taking the win by 2 seconds ahead of Aisling Dalton (Team Ballyhoura). Eva Gordon (Carn Wheelers) was 3rd with Sarah Wilson 4th, Hannah Todd (Muchamore Centurians) 5th and Eimer Skelly (Carn Wheelers) 6th.
Once the last of the Under 8s had finished the Under 10s filled the start area. The 17 boys and 9 girls were gridded with the girls starting separately from the boys. They all had 4 laps of the mini course to do. Donnacha Diamond (MBCC) took the win in the boys race ahead of Ben Wilson (Dromara CC) with Dean Harvey (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) 3rd, Jack Baird and James Buller, both from Banbridge Cycling Club finishing 4th and 5th respectively and Fraser Harrower (Dromara CC) finishing 6th. In the girls race it was Ellie Kelso (East Tyrone CC) who took the win ahead of Kerry Beattie (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) with Emma Dalton (Team Ballyhoura) 3rd, Sarah Elder (Carn Wheelers) 4th, Zoe Ennis (Epic MTB) 5th and Miriam Draper (MBCC) 6th.
The Under 12s then gathered for their race which was a separate course taking in more of the picturesque park. The 13 boys and 5 girls had 4 laps of this course to do. Mark Buller (Banbridge CC) had a close battle with Craig McCarthy (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) with just 2 seconds separating them at the finish line, Mark taking the honours. Adam McGarr (IMBRC) had his own battle with Drew Armstrong (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) with just 2 seconds between these two, Adam taking third. Dominic Bradley (Carn Wheelers) took 5th ahead of fellow club cyclist Cathir Doyle. In the girls race Amanda Draper (MBCC) finished first ahead of Kathryn Doyle (Carn Wheelers). Emma Elder and Anna Russell, both from Carn Wheelers were 3rd and 4th respectively with Kelly Wilson (Dromara CC) finishing 5th.
The start area then became very busy with the Under 16s (12 of them), Senior 4 men (49 of them), Senior 3 women (3), and Under 14s (16) gathering into their respective groups waiting to be gridded and then set off. The Under 16s went first with the others setting off as per the order above. All riders had to complete 2 laps with the Under 14s having a slightly shorter circuit than the other riders.
There was a tight battle for the top two spots in the Under 16s race between Conor Kavanagh (Team MoCo) and James Curry (Banbridge CC) which came down to the wire with just 1 second separating these two, Conor taking the win. Stephen Doherty (Killarney Cycling Club) was 3rd ahead of Conor Lavelle (MAD mtb). James Hanrahan (LMBC) was 5th with Joseph Baird (Banbridge CC) 6th. Marlena Drozdziok (Epic MTB) was the only one entry in the girls race and she finished in a repectable 42 minutes 11 seconds which was 5th fastest in this group.
The Senior 4 mens race was dominated by riders from the Killarney Club who took the top 4 places. Barry Meade 1st, Brendan O’Mahoney 2nd, Joe O’Leary 3rd and Darren O’Mahoney 4th. Keith Finn (Unlaoised MTB) was 5th with Dermot McKeogh (Omagh Wheelers) 6th. In the Senior 3 women’s race Diane Wilson (Dromara CC) had a convincing win over Aine McKenna (Epic MTB) with fellow club rider Erica Grant taking 3rd and Joeleen Cahill (Unlaoised MTB) was 4th.
Jamie Grifferty (Boyne MTB) continued to dominate the Under 14s race despite efforts by John Buller (Banbridge CC) (2nd) and Calvin Moore (Omagh Wheelers) (3rd). Allesandro Martinis (Team MoCo) was 4th with Richard Baird (Banbridge CC) 5th and Sean Bradley (Carn Wheelers) 6th. In the girls race Leah Mausell (Team Ballyhoura) is still the one to beat as she finished almost 4 minutes ahead of closest rival Shannon Buller (Banbridge CC) who in turn finished almost 7 minutes ahead of Klaudia Bajolek (Epic MTB).
A prize giving ceremony then took place for all the above races. At 2 pm the next set of races began with the Senior 1 men at the front, the Senior 1 women next, the Senior 2 men, the Senior 3 men and the Senior 2 women.
The Senior 1 mens race attracted 15 riders who had to complete 5 laps of the main course. Roger Aiken (Banbridge CC) set off at an impressive pace leaving Gareth McKee (ChainReaction Cycles) battling with Peter Buggle (Rocky Mountain) for the first 2 laps. By lap 3 the gaps had widened with Gareth maintaining 2nd place but losing ground to Roger. Peter retained the 3rd spot keeping ahead of Matthew Adair (Banbridge CC). Veteran rider Aiden McDonald (Cuchulainn CC) was 5th with Maciej Staroniewicz aka Max Power (Epic MTB) taking 6th.
In the Senior 1 womens race Ciara MacManus proved to be too strong for the other 3 women and took a comfortable win in this 4 lap race. Claire Oakley (WXC World Racing) finished a strong second ahead of Agata Tamulewicz (MAD Mtb) with Orla McClean (EPIC Mtb) 4th.
Forty two riders lined up for the Senior 2 mens race which was run over 4 laps of the main circuit. Marc Potts (Omagh Wheelers) and junior rider David Montgomery (Banbridge CC) had a close battle with Marc just taking the win by 5 seconds ahead of David. Michael Dardis (Epic MTB) on this rigid fork bike finished 3rd ahead of Simon Curry (Banbridge CC). Team Worc’s Paddy MacKey and Stuart Galloway took 5th and 6th respectively.
The biggest field of the day was the Senior 3 mens race which took in 3 laps of the main course. There were 57 starters in this race which was won by Darragh McCarter (Omagh Wheelers). Daragh had been in a close battle with Mark Farrell with Mark in the lead on the second lap when misfortune ended his race. A loose football from another park user came across Mark’s path and upended him wrecking his bike and injuring his shoulder. Bad luck Mark. Taking second place on the day was Stephen Law (Carn Wheelers) who finished ahead of Epic MTB riders Peter Boaden and Andrew Fitzpatrick with John O’Neill (Phoenix CC) taking 5th and Gerard O’Donnell (IMBRC) finishing 6th.
In the Senior 2 womens race Julie Rea (Phoenix CC) managed to stay ahead of Kathryn Bell (Northern CC) with Caroline Murphy (Epic MTB) taking 3rd and Paula Keohan (MAD mtb) taking 4th.
After the racing the host club had laid on a great spread of food. Final prize giving then took place before the riders headed home to enjoy the rest of the sunny afternoon. Many thanks to Xmtb McConvey Cycles on a super event. For more details of the next off-road races see www.ulsterxc.com.
Commissaire: Martin Grimley
Full results here
Report by Martin Grimley
Photographs by Martin here
More photographs here