Date: Sunday 1 May 2011
Event: Ulster Series Round 1, Irish NPS Round 3
Location: Davagh Forest, Cookstown
Host club: Carn Wheelers
The opening round of the 2011 Ulster Cross-Country Mountain Bike Series took place on Sunday 1 May at Davagh Forest near Cookstown. The venue, which is managed by the Forestry Service, was also included as part of the National Point Series (NPS) for the first time. It was the third round of the six round NPS series which meant a greater attraction for riders from across Ireland with over 250 in attendance. As per the 2010 race the weather was superb with bright sunshine and little wind. Host club Carn Wheelers had been working hard on improvements to the course from last year adding in some small jumps, putting down gravel in many areas, creating new single track which reduced the amount of fire road sections and including a start loop for the senior races. They had kept the water splash which the riders enjoyed as welcome relief from the heat. As part of the day the club had provided an enormous bouncy castle for the youth to enjoy while the adults were racing and a hot food van near the entrance, as well as food served after the races. There was chip timing for race categories of Under 14s and above provided by Galway based RedTag timing.
The Under 8s and Under 10s had the same mini course as last year, lining up on one of the tarmac paths before heading in among the trees through a well marked out course. With the race earlier in the year the young riders were not plagued by the midge problem while waiting on the start line. There were 18 lined up for the Under 8s race, 13 boys and 5 girls. Christopher Curry (Banbridge CC) won the boys race with Fraser Harrower (Dromara CC) second and Shea O’Kane (Phoenix CC) third ahead of fellow club mate Ryan Stewart. Neil Kelso was fifth with Lewis Armstrong (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) in sixth. Fastest girl was Eva Gordon from the host club with Charley Dunlop (Banbridge CC) second and Aisling Dalton in third.
Sixteen lined up for the Under 10s race, 9 boys and 7 girls. As per 2010 Mark Buller (Banbridge CC) took the win ahead of Drew Armstrong (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) with Cathir Doyle from the host club taking third. Fourth was Ross Ennis (Epic MTB) with Jack Baird from Banbridge Cycling Club in fifth. Sarah Elder from the host club was the fastest girl with Niamh McKiverigan (Banbridge CC) second and Emma Dalton in third.
The Under 12s race started from the main car park area at the start/finish gantry. Fourteen lined up for this race, 10 boys and 4 girls, three of whom were from the host club. Jamie Grifferty (Boyne MTB) pulled away early from the others to take the win finishing over 30 seconds clear of John Buller (Banbridge CC) who won here last year. Third was Conor Bate with Ryan Doyle from the host club fourth and Stuart Dunlop (Banbridge CC) fifth. Leah Munsell (Team Ballyhoura) was in a class of her own finishing over 6 minutes ahead of Lauryn Heaney with much smaller time gaps to third placed Emma Elder and fourth place Kathryn Doyle.
The next set of races got set up at noon with the Under 16s, Senior 4 men, Senior 3 women and Under 14s. These races made use of the one mile start loop which helped to stretch out the riders before they entered the single track climb up into the forest. The nine Under 16s set off first with Rob Deegan (Epic MTB) taking the win ahead of David Montgomery (Banbridge CC) with Chris Oakley (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) in third. Aaron McCann (Cuchulainn) just got to the line ahead of Angus Fyffe (Plush MTB) for fourth and fifth place respectively. Marlena Drozdziok was the only female entry and she finished 7th overall.
Next up were the Senior 4 men which was the biggest category of the day with 53 riders entered. They had to complete 2 laps of the main course after the start loop. Two local lads from the host club, Stephen and Ryan Walsh, lead from the start and were well clear of the chasing pack at the finish with Stephen arriving 30 seconds ahead of Ryan at the line. Thomas Hepburn was third with Darren Hughes (Harps CC) finishing an excellent fourth.
Starting behind the Senior 4 men were the six Senior 3 women. Caroline Murphy (Epic MTB) was too strong for the others to finish almost 2½ minutes ahead of Claire Breslin (MAD Mtb) who finished just 10 seconds ahead of Kerryann Hughes (Harps CC) with Joanne McCallum (Dromara CC) the only other finisher.
The Under 14s started just after the Senior 3 women and they had to complete 2 laps of the short course. Fifteen riders lined up for this race which saw a close battle between the top 3 riders with Conor Kavanagh (Boyne MTB) crossing the line first ahead of Conor Lavelle (MAD Mtb) with Joseph Baird (Banbridge CC) in third. First girl was Shenna McKiverigan (Banbridge CC) who was 10th overall and just ahead of fellow club mate Shannon Buller.
At 1:30 the next races were set up with riders gridded as per the current NPS league standings. The key for the organisers was to get all the groups set off at one minute intervals into the start loop as the first away would be coming back towards the other stationery riders when they finished their start loop before going into the main track. The timing was perfect and all got away safely and on time.
The Senior 1 men were away first and this group of 21 riders did not take long getting around the start loop, under 4½ minutes. They had to complete 5 laps of the course which saw 6 retirements including the early leader Peter Buggle (Rocky Mountain). In the end it was Joe McCall (Focus MTB) who took the win closely followed by Gareth McKee (Banbridge CC). Alfie Wallace (Epic MTB) was third not too far ahead of James McCluskey (IMBRC) who in turn was just 17 seconds ahead of Oisin Boydell. Damian Mulchrone (Epic MTB) was 6th ahead of Richie Fell (Thinkbike.ie) with Ciaran Bryne (DUCC) 8th.
There were just two riders in the Junior race with Matthew Adair dominating as he rode among the top Senior 1 men leaving Craig Rea (ChainReaction Cycles) well behind.
Forty one riders lined up for the Senior 2 men’s race with one club getting a clean sweep of the podium places, Epic MTB, with Michael Dardis 1st, Oscar MacAnaney 2nd, Colm McGarvey 3rd. Off-road commission secretary Fergal Kilkenny (MAD mtb) finished fourth with Simon Curry (Banbridge CC) fifth and Peter McConville (Newry Wheelers) in sixth. There was only one entry for the Senior 1 women’s race with Melanie Späth completing her 4 laps in just over 1½ hours.
The second biggest field was for the Senior 3 men’s race with 50 riders at the start line. There was lots of close racing in this category with just over one minute separating the top 5 riders. After 3 laps Bob Talbot (Harps CC) got to the line first 11 seconds ahead of Karl Pae who was 15 seconds ahead of Paul Bloomer (Harps CC), with just 19 seconds between Paul and Terry McDonagh (Epic MTB) with Cathal Doyle from the host club 18 seconds behind Terry.
The Senior 2 women’s race involved 3 laps of the course and had 5 women competing. Val O’Neill (Phoenix) had her first off-road race of the season and lead from the start increasing her lead at every lap to finish almost 5 minutes ahead of Gill Smith. Orla McClean (Epic MTB) was third with Rose Griffin (IMBRC) fourth and Julie Rea (ChainReaction Cycles) fifth.
After the racing the club laid on a great spread of sandwiches and buns while the prize giving ceremony took place. The club thanked their sponsors, CP Hire, Kelly Landscape and Stone, Sizzlers Restaurant Magherafelt and Ciclisport.
A big thank you to Carn Wheelers for putting on a top class event. The next round will be held on Sunday 15 May 2011 at Tollymore Forest Park hosted by Banbridge Cycling Club. See www.ulsterxc.com for details.
Commissaire(s): Ciara MacManus
Full results here
Photographs: Michael Armstrong & Stephen Prentice
Report: Martin Grimley
More photographs here