Date: Saturday 28 June 1997
Event: Bangor Bike Week
Location: Castle Park, Bangor
Host club: Toyota North Down
Pity help the dog walker who happened to stray across the all weather pitch in Bangor’s Castle Park on Saturday 28 June as a stampede of highly charged mountain bikers started the Toyota North Down Bangor Bike Week mountain bike race. Always a success, this well established week of competition culminated in an open cross country race. Starting with a charge across the gravel pitch it was a hard right for a full lap of the BMX course before looping around a hedge to enter a singletrack bash through the trees. Out to the extreme back of the park and it was out of the trees and down the hill of the football pitches before tackling a steep off camber descent and a last series of switchbacks through yet more trees to complete the lap.
The continued bright weather and the unrelenting nature of the course combined with the odd shard of glass from a broken bottle made sure that the attrition rate was high. That, as well as the greasy conditions from recent rain, which was to see Ross Blaney crash heavily in the woods in his first mountain bike race as a Senior, made things entertaining. Suffering from the heat after remounting, Ross stopped in the trees to shed some layers whereupon Andy Laverty who just happened upon the scene at that precise moment in time didn’t know whether to slap it or park his bike in it and veered off line, puncturing his rear tyre on the aforementioned glass. Wonder how Giant took the news of his retirement, “I was blinded by the moon in the trees at one o’clock in the afternoon”.
Colin Starrett was oblivious to all of this as he rode comfortably away from Simon Loughlin to take his second and surely not last win of the year, the by now traditional superman impression across the finish line being very well received. Ross was to take third despite his dramas after a superb charge through the field, just pipping new Northern Ireland Road Race Champion, Michael Hamilton in the process. Ronald Surgenor was another having an impressive ride, taking a triple clamped, long travel Mountain Cycle San Andreas to fifth place in combat fatigues, tee shirt and flat pedals, what a git with Old School, Robert Lamont taking the last of the prize money in sixth after a determined ride.
In the other classes, it was very much a local benefit with Philip Geddis winning the Junior class in such a manner as to actually place third overall, while Ricky Blaney was obviously inspired, taking the first open win of his career in front of some very proud family members. Colin Ross and Lewis Ferguson were doing the usual business in the Under 14 and Under 12’s respectively while Gill Smith and Geoff Coupland only had to finish to claim their greenbacks. Right, who’s for the pub?
RESULTS
Seniors
1 Colin Starrett – Bann Wheelers CC
2 Simon Loughlin – McConvey Cycles
3 Ross Blaney – Ards CC
4 Michael Hamilton – Toyota North Down
5 Ronald Surgenor –
6 Robert Lamont – Phoenix CC
7 Ryan Hamilton – Phoenix CC
8 Owen Byrne – Mountain Cycles
9 Tony McConvill – Apollo Cycle Team
10 Mark Welsh – Bann Wheelers CC
11 Lee Bowen – Team Madigan
12 Mark Forrester –
13 Jim Laird – Toyota North Down
14 Paul Curry –
15 Richard Metza –
16 Dale McMullan – Bann Wheelers CC
17 Michael White –
18 Gareth Murray –
19 Dermott O’Neill – Armstrong Bike Dock
20 Peter Boyd – Toyota North Down
Vets
1 Geoff Coupland – Apollo Cycle Team
Ladies
1 Gill Smith – Armstrong Bike Dock
Juniors
1 Philip Geddis – Armstrong Bike Dock
2 Mark McCallum – Toyota North Down
3 Peter Murray –
Under 16
1 Ricky Blaney – Toyota North Down
2 Neil McCallum – Armstrong Bike Dock
3 Duane McCreadie –
4 Owen Jeffries –
5 Conal Watson –
6 Andrew Coupland – Apollo Cycle Team
7 Timothy Walsh –
8 James Edwards –
Under 14
1 Colin Ross – Armstrong Bike Dock
2 David Coyle – Toyota North Down
3 Matty Blaney – Toyota North Down
4 Mark McKillop – Bamford Cycles-Glenarm CC
5 William Corry –
6 Gareth Cross –
Under 12
1 Lewis Ferguson – Armstrong Bike Dock
2 Philip McLaughlin –
3 Michael Mulvenna –
4 Matthew Ferguson – Armstrong Bike Dock
5 Thomas Baker –
6 Matthew Keane –
7 Owen Watson –
8 Lowell McCreadie – Toyota North Down
9 Chris Jones – Armstrong Bike Dock
10 Aaron Sterling – Ards CC
11 Jessica Laird – Toyota North Down
Report by: Uberdog
Original report location here