Date: Saturday 3 August 2013
Event: Ulster Series Round 4 / World Police and Fire Games
Location: Kilbroney Park, Rostrevor
Host club: Dromara Cycling Club
The World Police and Fire Games was being held in the first week of August 2013 and the mountain bike cross-country and downhill races were scheduled for Kilbroney Park in Rostrevor. Dromara Cycling Club had run a round of the Ulster cross-country mountain bike series in the forest back in May 2013. At the same time ChainReaction Cycles had put on a downhill race in the same venue at the same time. Both clubs had agreed to host the mountain bike events for the WPFG. After much negotiations in the background the clubs were given permission to host support races to run alongside this international event. The cross-country race was incorporated into the Ulster XC series as Round 4 with the downhill race as a stand-alone event with full uplift support for riders. The courses were marked out on Thursday which had heavy rain in the morning and then dry conditions in the afternoon leaving the courses wet and muddy. On Friday the final touches were made to each course with banners etc being put up. Practice for the both events opened around midday and there was a steady stream of international visitors coming along to familiarise themselves with the terrain. Friday ended with more heavy rain showers. Saturday morning was dry and around mid morning the sun started to appear much to everyone’s enjoyment. It stayed dry throughout Saturday until it came to the final award ceremony which conveniently made everyone run into the main marquee and therefore provided an audience to cheer the winners.
The WPFG race started just after 10 am with riders from 16 different countries taking part. The riders were split into age groups as defined by WPFG’s regulations with the younger riders having to complete 6 laps and the oldest competitors having to complete 3. Whilst the main WPFG race was underway, the youth categories for the Under 6s, Under 8s, Under 10s and Under 12s took place on the Touring in the Trees site which had separate courses for each of the age categories, independent of the main course which the WPFG competitors were using. Many thanks to Angela Oakley and Mark Harvey from Xmtb for running these events.
There was a delay to the start of the first of the adult races due to the overrun on the WPFG races. The Senior 4, Under 14s and Under 16s race was meant to begin at 12:15 but it was just after 1:15 when it did finally get underway. Thankfully the sun was shining at this time on the park which was full of the trappings of a festival with music playing, a climbing wall in place, various food stalls in operation, and the games character Emergency Eddie going around handing out gifts and posing for photographs. The Under 16s set off first for 3 laps of the main course. They were followed one minute later by the Senior 4 men who also had 3 laps to complete. Behind the Senior 4s the Under 14s set off for 2 laps of their course which was a reduced version of the main course avoiding the second fire road climb.
The earlier time delay did have an knock on effect on the 2 pm race which got underway at 2:30. Senior 1 men were lined up on the start line for 6 laps. Behind them were the Senior 2 juniors and the single Senior 1 female entrant Ciara MacManus who had 5 laps to complete. These 3 categories started on the first whistle. Next up were the Senior 2 men who had 5 laps to complete. Setting off one minute behind Senior 2s were the Senior 3 men who had to do 4 laps. Behind the Senior 3 men were the Senior 2 women who had 3 laps to complete.
Many thanks to ChainReaction Cycles who sponsored both the cross-country and the downhill race and to the Newry and Mourne District Council for their investment in the games. Many thanks also to the volunteers from Volunteer Now who came along with great enthusiasm to help support the WPFG as well the the other races.
Results
World Police and Fire Games full results – here
Ulster XC Round 4 results – here
Photos
Steven Lindsay (FlickR) – here
Michael Armstrong (FlickR) – here
MountainBikeNI (Facebook) – here
WPFG photographers (FlickR) – here
Video
By Aaron Donnelly (Youtube) – here