Date: Sunday 24 June 2012
Event: Ulster Series Round 3, NPS Round 6
Location: Davagh Forest, Cookstown
Host club: Carn Wheelers
Round 3 of the Ulster Cross-Country Mountain Bike Series took place at Davagh Forest near Cookstown, County Tyrone on Sunday 24th June 2012. This event was also the last of the 2012 National Point Series (NPS) races where riders from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland compete together with the best 4 out of 5 rounds counting towards the overall series.
This was only the third year that this forest has been included in either series and host club Carn Wheelers has been working hard over these years finding new sections of forest to use and continually improving the course. The date for this round had been deliberately set later in the calendar in the hope that the scheduled investment in new sanctioned trails would have been fully or partly completed and then any new section could have been included in the course design. However, work did not get started on these new commercial trails which, along with weeks of unseasonally wet weather in the lead up to race day, left some sections of the planned course very muddy. There was just too much forest and too little time for the club to redesign the course away from these sections which took a little away from the fast flowing course that the riders have come to enjoy over the previous two (dry) years.
This round of the series did attract 175 riders from as far afield as Killarney. One of the memories from this event will be, unfortunately the midges which were out in force feeding on the sweaty riders and not-so-sweaty spectators. This being a downside to having a race at this time of the year and certainly outside the control of the organisers. Also outside of the control of the organisers was the weather on race day which was thankfully dry and bright with only some short light showers during the racing.
There was a full schedule of races set up with the Under 8s and Under 10s having their races in a separate area of the forest close to the car park. The organisers again had their challenges in this area when contractors arrived unexpectedly to fell a substancial number of trees just a few days before the youth were due to start in this section. The club rose to the challenge and designed a new course around the felled trees which meant a twisty single track course with a slippery climb at the back which tested the young legs.
REST OF REPORT TO FOLLOW
Results here