Date: Sunday 23 April 2006
Event: Round 1 Ulster & NPS League
Location: Castlewellan Forest
Host Club: XMTB
Seymour Takes Win At Castlewellan
The 2006 Mountain Bike Cross Country season began at a sun kissed Castlewellan Forest Park on Sunday with the XMTB Club the hosts for the Class 2 World Ranked event, which was also the opening round of the Irish and Ulster Leagues. From early morning the car park area was buzzing with anticipation, with 154 riders eventually signing on, to provide a perfect day of great racing and entertainment, XC racing dead? Pull the other one!
For the Elite riders, it was a case of scoring world ranking points to try and qualify Ireland for the Olympics. Perhaps the most disappointing fact about the Elite race was that it only attracted one visiting rider, Adrian Lansley from England. However for much of the six laps Lansley was involved in the main action at the front of the field along with Robin Seymour and Niall Davis. On the opening lap it was Lansley who led from Davis and Seymour, Seymour suffering a nasty crash on the exit from the forest at the feed zone, the Wicklow rider sustaining nasty cuts to his leg.
For four laps this trio headed the race, but on the fifth lap Seymour and Davis pulled clear to have their own battle for the lead, and on the last lap it was Seymour who attacked to proceed to take victory, complete with heavily blooded leg. Davis was second, a superb result, considering that this time last year he was a mere Sports rider. Lansley was third with the newly bearded Lewis Ferguson the top Ulster finisher in fourth. James McCluskey was fifth with Glen Kinning sixth. Connor McConvey chose to ride the Elite race instead of the Junior and finished seventh, however his progress was hampered as on the opening lap he bent his rear mech and only had four gears to choose from. Tim Edgar had his first MTB outing of the year to finish 8th.
Jenny McAuley easily took the Elite ladies race from Tarja Owens, with Ciara McManus third and Joanne McCallum a brave fourth. The new Experts Class produced a runaway win for Damian Mulchrone (EPIC) with Newry’s Peter McConville runner up. Dave Gill (WORC) put his recent health problems behind him to grab third. XMTB heroes Gareth Adamson and Jim Laird finished 25th and 27th.
The Vets race was won by XMTB’s oldie Robbie Lamont, but in the closing stages he had to contend with a strong attack from Banbridge rider Willy Mulligan, who had problems getting through traffic on the opening lap. Cuchulain rider Johnny McCabe was third. John Doris (Sorrento) dominated the Masters race in which last years Sports Champion Gerry McCabe finished runner up. Banbridge rider Paul Anderson was third with his main rival from last year, Andy Wallace (Dave Kane) in fourth.
The Junior race saw XMTB’s Graham Boyd ride to a superb win on his Junior debut. Equally impressive was runner up Andy ‘Sideways’ Godfery, another Junior debutant, with Robert McCabe from Dundalk passing Peter McKeown in the closing stages to snatch third. The Sports race, run along with the U-16 event, had an entry of 35 with victory going to Newly rider Gerald McVeigh, runner up was Rob Cummins and Richard Felle was third. It was good to see so many new faces in the Sports Class, which this year is designed for those new to the sport, or those who just want to go out and have a good time, a prime example being the riders from Dromara CC, who just a week earlier had been competing in the Tour of the North road race.
What was really good to see on Sunday was the healthy entries in the Youth Classes. The top three in the U-16 race had a weekend to remember. Sean Downey was a convincing winner from Neil McGimpsey and Liam McGreevy, all three having competed on Saturday in a Cycling Ireland selection road race in Athlone! Banbridge rider Michael Runciman overcame pre race nerves to win the U-14 race with XMTB’s William Boyd runner up and Jack Wilson (East Antrim) third on his mtb debut. Michael Downey (Banbridge CC) mounted a late attack on Wilson and at the finish only lost out by 10 seconds.
Robbie Lamont was to be the only rider to prevent a Banbridge clean sweep of the Youth races, as he took a very popular win in the U-12 Class. Runner up was Mark Downey, the Banbridge rider opting for this class instead of the U-10. Chris Oakley beat big sister Claire to take third. James Curry (Banbridge CC) was in a class of his own as he swept to glory in the U-10 race, with fellow Banbridge rider Thomas Magennis runner up, and Ty Mackness (Madigan) in third. Young Banbridge lady, Rachel Mayne took the honours in the U-8 race with Newry’s Kain McConvey in second as another Banbridge rider, Richard Baird made his racing debut to finish third.
A big thanks to all who made Sunday such an enjoyable day, to all at XMTB, Commissaires Colin and Billy, Down District Council, and especially to a certain Mrs Boyd for sponsoring the toilets!
Report and Pics Andy Potts
Original report location here