Date: Sunday 06 March 2011
Event: XMTB Spring Series Round 2
Location: Ormeau Park, Belfast
Host club: XMTB McConvey Cycles
Round 2 of XMTB McConvey Cycle’s Spring Mountain bike series returned to Ormeau Park in Belfast on Sunday 6 March 2011 where there was another gathering of riders from age 5+ looking to race around the short circuit among the trees. The course had benefitted from several days of dry weather which helped to reduce the amount of mud the riders had to tackle this time. The weather was cool and fresh but thankfully stayed dry. No more hailstones this time around. The number of entries was again impressive with over 120 across all categories.
First race of the day was for the Under 8s which saw an increase in numbers with 20 eagar faces on the start line for their two laps of the ‘mini-course’. As has been tradition in the past, the organisers set about handicapping the youth races by sending the faster riders to the back of the group and delaying their start by the time difference they set in the previous round. This gives the other riders a chance but also gives the faster riders more of a challenge. Adam McCaughtry (Dromara CC) lead from the whistle and set a pace that the others couldn’t match. Behind him came Finn Hackett (Northern Dave Kane) who was followed closely by the first girl Charley Dunlop (Banbridge CC). Fraser Harrower (Dromara CC) was set off 10 seconds behind the others but manged to cut through the other riders to finish fourth overall. Lorcan Hanratty was 11th last week but finished 5th this time finishing just ahead of Jack Watt from the host club. Winner of Round 1, Christopher Curry (Banbridge CC), finished 7th overall.
Next up were the Under 10s and they had 4 laps of the ‘mini-course’ to complete. The 12 lined up were all keen for the whistle but the race organisers were out to stagger the starts with 3 of the riders starting after 15 seconds, 2 after 30 seconds and one, Mark Buller (Banbridge CC) starting 40 seconds after the first whistle. When the first whistle went there was a clash of handlebars with Dillon Cook (Dromara CC) coming out the worse. He did suffer some injuries but bravely got back on his bike and chased after the others. The handicaps did little to deter the fastest of the Under 10s as Mark Buller cut though his rivals to take the win again. Drew Armstrong from the host club was second with Ross Ennis (Epic MTB) again taking third place. Lee Harvey and Adam Hawthorne, both from the host club, took 4th and 5th respectively with James Buller (Banbridge CC) finishing sixth. The only girl in this race was Sarah Elder (Carn Wheelers) who finished 9th.
The Under 12s and Under 14s were started next. The Under 14s going first and they were doing 3 laps of the main course. The Under 12s started behind them and they had 3 ‘short’ laps. As before there were riders in both of these categories who were time handicapped. In the Under 12s race John Buller (Banbridge) overcame his 1 minute 15 second delay to charge throught he other riders to take the win again. Max Melville (Dromara CC) missed the first round but made his mark in the second round by finishing second. Stuart Dunlop (Banbridge) had a one minute delay but went on to take third, 16 seconds ahead of Craig McCarthy from the host club who also had a time handicap as did Kyle Harrison who finished fifth. First girl was Emma Elder (Carn Wheelers) who finished sixth overall.
In the Under 14s race Joseph Baird (Banbridge CC) took advantage of not being time handicapped (he finished 6th last week) to lead from the ‘off’. James Curry, also from Banbridge CC, was last week’s winner and had to overcome a time delay of 1½ minutes to finish 2nd ahead of Evan Harrison who took another third place. James Rowan was second in Round 1 but finished fourth in this round ahead of Richard Baird (Banbridge CC) with Shannon Buller (Banbridge CC), the only female in this category, finishing 6th.
The Under 16s had to do 6 laps of the main course and as per the other categories, there were time handicaps in place for those riders who did well in Round 1. On the first whistle 7 riders started, 1½ minutes later Ryan Orr (Orchard Wheelers) took off in pursuit, one minute behind Ryan Chris Oakley from the host club started and last away, 30 seconds behind Chris, was last week’s winner Robert Deegan (Newbridge). Chris Oakley overcame his time handicap to finish first, a full minute ahead of Ryan Orr with Matthew Taggart (Banbridge CC) making his first appearance in the series to take third. Robert Deegan made his way up to fourth place well ahead of Aaron McCann (Cuchulainn CC) with Alex Bell from the host club finishing 6th. The only girl in this category was Dublin based Marlena Droidzoik who finished in 7th place.
The last race of the day was the senior “fun” race which attracted another large group of over 60 riders. Unlike the youth races, riders in this group were gridded based on last week’s performance with the top riders lining up at the front of the bunch. This fun event is geared towards introducing new people to the sport of off-road racing and there were many new faces eagar to get started but also there were many seasoned riders who just love to race. Coming up from Dublin were three riders from Thinkbike including Elite rider Richie Felle all looking for some pre-season racing. On the whistle the riders set off although given the amount of riders and the narrow path it took a while to get all up to speed. As expected it was junior rider Matthew Adair, now riding for Vitus, who took the win lapping all but 6 riders in the process. Ritchie Felle was Matthew’s closest chaser finishing 1½ minutes behind but well ahead of third place Simon Curry (Banbridge CC). Robert Lamont from the host club was second in round 1 and finished fourth in this round ahead of series sponsor Eamon McConvey. Tomasz Michalski, also from the host club, had a mechnical problem towards the end of the race and had to run part of the lap but still managed sixth overall. The only other rider to complete all 8 laps was Ryan Walsh from Carn Wheelers. There were 8 females in the race and the first female to finish was Claire Oakley (WXC Mountainbike Team).
Well done to all the hard working members of XMTB McConvey Cycles for putting on another great event. Many thanks to Angela from the club for passing on the list of results (see link below). The final round will be on Sunday 13 March 2011 in the same location.
After the Fun race there will be a series prize giving in the Ozone centre starting around 2pm. All participants are asked to stay on as there will be lots of prizes for the winners of the races as well as a large spread of food and drink. The club have put up some raffle prizes with participants getting a number of raffle tickets depending on the number of rounds of the series entered. The big prize is a brand new mountain bike, a 2011 Specialized Hardrock Disc which is available in a range of sizes depending on what suits the lucky winner.
Pre-registration for the final round is now open.
See www.ulsterxc.com for more details.
Full results here
Series leaderboard here
Commissaire: Martin Grimley
Report and photos by Martin Grimley
More photos by Martin here
Photos by Uberdog here
Photos by Joanna J here