Date: Sunday 6 April 2014
Event: Ulster Series Round 2
Location: Ballykelly Forest
Host club: Caldwell Cycles
Round 2 of the Ulster cross-country (XC) mountain bike series took place at Ballykelly Forest near Limavady on Sunday 6 April 2014. Host club Caldwell Cycles, lead by chief organiser Clive Caldwell, put on a great event with a well marked course, sign on and huge selection of food. The course was very similar to the one used last year and the club is very thankful to the support from the Forestry Service for the use of the venue. The weather was good with lots of blue skies and sunshine but there was a couple of brief periods of spring rains, the most significant was just before the start of the noon races which affected parts of the course making the ground very slippery. There were a number of minor crashes with one requiring ambulance extraction for a rider with broken ribs during his practice lap.
Racing got underway at 10:30 with the Under 6s race. The new format of these races allows the young riders to race by themselves over a short distance on the fire road. Next up were the Under 8s who had their own trail which went behind the timing tent and came out onto the fire just beside the finish line. Reuban Maitland won the boys race and Aine Doherty (VC Glendale) continued her dominance of the girls U8 race. The Under 10s started at 11:00 with 2 laps of their track which took them up over the ridge above the finish line to then drop down to the fire road for a sprint finish. Neil Kelso (East Tyrone) won the boys race with Eva Gordon (Carn Wheelers) making it two wins out of two. Darren Rafferty (Island Wheelers) won the boys Under 12s race with Ellie Kelso (East Tyrone) matching her brother’s gold medal by winning the girls race.
At noon the Under 14s, 16s and Senior 4 men lined up. The Under 16s set off first, 2 minutes ahead of the Senior 4 men, both groups having to do 2 laps of the main course. The Under 14s went off 1 minute behind the Senior 4 men and they had to complete 5 laps of their own course. Cameron McIntyre (Banbridge CC) won the Under 16s race, well ahead of his nearest rival Adam Duff but also significantly faster than the Senior 4 men. Shannon Buller also from the Banbridge club continued to show her great form finishing first female rider in the Under 16s race. The Under 14s boys race was dominated by Xmtb McConvey Cycles with the top 5 riders all from this club. Thomas Creighton finishing well clear of brother Ethan Creighton with Drew Armstrong third. The U16 females saw a reversal of the results from Rostrevor with Emma Elder (Carn Wheelers) taking the win from Kelly Wilson (Dromara CC). In the Senior 4 men’s race Kieran Gilligan (Island Wheelers) finished first just 4 seconds ahead of Anthony McConville (Apollo CT).
At 2pm the Senior 1, 2 and 3 riders lined up. At the front were the Senior 1 men with 8 riders lined up including two returning students from England, David Montgomery and Stuart Ballantine. Matthew Adair (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) took the early lead but suffered a puncture leaving David Montgomery to show that he had not just been studying books but training hard as he went on the victory well clear of Graham Boyd (Xmtb) and Barry Kellett (Dromara CC). Claire Oakley (Xmtb) was the only entry for the Senior 1 female category but raced strongly over her 4 laps. In the Senior 2 juniors race, James Curry (Banbridge CC) again shows his strength with great display of racing to finish over 6 minutes ahead of nearest rival Darnell Moore from the host club. In the Senior 2 men’s race Andrew McCullough (North Down) finished his 4 lap race well clear of veteran rider Robbie Lamont (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) with Brendan Doherty (VC Glendale) in third place. In the Senior 3 men’s race Martin Bradley (Carn Wheelers) went from second to third to first over his 3 lap race, with Raymond Kerr (Lakeland CC) in second and Thomas Hepburn (Island Wheelers) third.
The riders were then able to enjoy the great spread of food down at the sign on tent as the prize giving ceremony took place. Many thanks to Caldwell Cycles for putting on a super event. Round 3 of the Ulster XC series will be at Lady Dixon Park on 25 May 2014.
Results here
Photos
Michael Armstrong (Facebook) – here
William Boyd (Facebook) – here
Report by Martin Grimley