5 September 2009 – Craigavon Lakes

Date: Saturday 5 September 2009
Event: Ulster MTB Round
Location: Craigavon Watersports Centre
Host club: Apollo CT

On Saturday 5 September 2009 Apollo Cycling Team hosted a cross-country mountain bike race at their usual venue at the Craigavon Lakes.  Headquarters was set up in the excellent Watersports Centre which also provided showers, café and bike wash as well as ample car parking outside.  

Racing got underway at noon with the under 12s event.  The five riders, almost all from Banbridge Cycling Club, had to complete one lap of the senior course.  As predicted James Curry took the win, with Joseph finishing ahead of Richard in the Baird family battle.  Shannon Buller (Banbridge CC) finished ahead of Cian McConvey (Newry Wheelers).

Setting off one minute behind the under 12s were the four under 10s who had to complete 6 laps of the small course.  As expected it was another Banbridge sensation John Buller who took the win with Fergal McConvey (Newry Wheelers) finishing just ahead of Ben Hanna (Dromara CC).

Leaving one minute after the under 12s were the six under 8s.  The top three finished as they had done at the Irish Championships with Mark Buller (Banbridge CC) taking the win ahead of Drew Armstrong (Dromara CC) and Chris Curry (Banbridge CC).  James Buller took fourth with first time racers Charley Dunlop and Kayla Grimley (Dromara CC) finishing 5th and 6th.

After a short break racing began again with the Sports riders who made up the biggest field on the day with 16 riders in total.  They had to complete three laps of the flat circuit which had only minor changes since  the last event here back in September 2008.  The host club’s Cathal Hendron and Camron Burns took the top two spots with Ronnie Ogilby (XMTB McConvey) finishing a well deserved third.  David Neill and Adam McGreevy (both from Juiced Orchard) were 4th and 5th with Martin Grimley (Dromara CC) crossing the line with his rival Stephen Prentice (Banbridge CC) not contesting the sprint.  Another Juiced Orchard rider Jonny Graham was 8th ahead of David Armstrong with Keith Abraham from the host club completing the top 10.  In the Sports women’s race Dianne Keys and Gillian Armstrong crossed the line together.  Both ladies stayed in contact throughout the three laps in order to facilitate conversation!

Leaving one minute behind the Sports riders was the under 14s race with four riders lined up for one lap of the main course.   Still in dominant form was Chris Oaskley (XMTB McConvey Cycles) who took the win with close rival Zak Hanna (Dromara CC) only seconds behind.  Christopher Weir (Dromara CC) rode well to finish 3rd after a long battle with Amy Ogilby (XMTB McConvey Cycles).

After a short awards ceremony for the under 14s and Sports riders racing began again at 2pm with the Elite men’s race.  With no Experts race the field of riders was swelled to seven and they had five laps of the main course to complete.   Banbridge rider Liam McGreevy set a lead early on in the race and maintained that lead to the end.  Behind Liam was Richard Felle (Thinkbike) and Ryan Sherlock (M.A.D.)  both riders from the Republic of Ireland.  Another ROI rider James McCluskey (IMBRC) took fourth ahead of the host club’s Allister MacSorley who would normally have been in the Experts category.  Allister did well to finish ahead of regular Elite rider Graham Boyd (XMTB McConvey Cycles).  Gareth McKee (Banbridge CC), would also have been in the Experts category, finished strongly and in the same lap as fellow club member Liam.

The Elite women’s race was a two way battle between Melanie Spath (DUCC) and Cait Elliott (UCD)  with Melanie taking the win after an excellent 4 lap ride by both competitors.

There were three entries in the Juniors race with East Antrim’s Jonny Beers finishing strongly ahead of William Boyd (XMTB McConvey Cycles) and David Graham (Biketart.com) over the 3 laps.

In the Master’s race it was JJ Conway (Harps CC) who took the win.  JJ had won the Sports race the year before.  Gareth Blair (U/A) finished ahead of road racer Darren Weir (Dromara CC).  Clive Caldwell (Total Cycling) misjudged one of the narrow tree obstacles and came off the worse for wear with Phil O’Neill (Dromara CC) suffering a puncture.

In the Vets race Derek Hanna (Dromara CC) took his first win in this category after a closely fought battle with Jonathan Buller (Banbridge CC) .  William Forsythe, also from the Banbridge club, took third with Ray Beers (XMTB McConvey Cycles) 4th and Martin Rogers from the host club in fifth.  Some of the regular vet riders had chosen to race elsewhere this weekend.

Many thanks to Fred MacSorley, Derek King, Allister MacSorley and to all the members & supporters of Apollo CT who did a great job setting up this event.  Participants were also impressed by the organisation to arrange a fly over of the Red Arrows.  That will take some beating by other clubs!  It was a shame that there were not more participants at this excellent event to enjoy the racing and the hospitality laid on by this hard working club.  

Apollo CT are having a night race on Friday 11 September 2009.  For more details see their website

 

 

Report by Martin Grimley