Cyclocross Rd 1 – Lurgan Park

After all the talk about who would or wouldnt be taking part in cyclocross this season it was no surprise to see a huge turn out at Lurgan Park for the first round with plenty of Dromara CC tops to be seen. The weather had been kind and the course was in great condition with very little mud. This didnt make the course easy by any stretch of the imagination.

With the junior section of Dromara CC showing they still are holding their own with Alex Harrower getting 6th in the Under 8 section and Ben Wilson taking 3rd in the under 14 race.

Once the junior races were out of the way the MTB Support Race and Cyclocross ‘B’ Race started with more than 120 racers on the start line. Emma Johnson was taking part in her first MTB Support race but hopefully see her take up this cyclocross next week. Peter Davison was 34th although I am sure could have got top style points for showing how to bunny hop the boards. Bryce Hetherington managed to sneak out of the house from looking after his first born and finished in 28th. Graham Beckett showed that you can really enjoy these MTB races smiling the whole way around and taking 16th with Robert Davison taking 12th.

In the Cyclocross ‘B’ Race Dromara managed to take 3 places in the top 10 with Paul Mawhirt fresh from the 3 Peakes taking 5th, Graham Smyth showing the pain face to take a superb 8th place on his first race, John Shanks completed the top 10, Adrian Booth(17th), Brian Wilson(26th), Mike Barton(30th), John McGuigan(31st) & Gibson Chambers(43rd).

In the very competitive ladies race Lisa managed an excellent second place.

The big race of the day was the Cyclocross ‘A’ Race and Dromara had Martin Grimley in the Vets and Barry “Im only here to make up the numbers” Kellet. It was great to see Martin holding his own in a top quality field to take 17th in the Vets. Barry produced a super ride to take 11th with the top 10 seconds away – if only he could bunny hop.

Lots of brilliant performances from all the newbies and oldies alike. Great to see so many DCC Jerseys in the B race and I am sure it wont be long until they are in the A race.

Find BVK’s report below:

Ah – Cyclocross. How I have missed you.
The first round, The excited faces scrambling for a front row spot with no gridding in place. Some real chancers found their way forward before I had even arrived down at the line. The scramble for the first corner was hectic. I managed to pull a few places back from almost the back of the grid, but Luke Ireland was getting away already… NOOOOOO!

Spent the first 10 minutes trying to force my way through the traffic. Very fast moving traffic admittedly. Slightly worried and perplexed at how strong everyone seemed to be and just how tight I was getting it. Eventually the pace started to tell on a few guys and the pack thinned out, Luke was caught for all his bunny hopping. Success. Now I just had to hold him off.

The front group were away and would never be seen again.
A strong group including Banbridge Junior Cameron McIntyre, Newry’s Peter McConville, Craig Rea of Phoenix and Ronan McLaughlin of DigDeep were about 30 seconds up midway through the race. I was locked in my own personal Battle with Graham Boyd of XMTB (who haunts me in every off road race I enter) and Aiden McDonald of Chucullain.

In the end, my efforts to gap these two were mostly fruitless as Boyd was hopping the boards at about 20mph and making up a massive chunk of time per lap. I needed to get over 20 seconds on him on the final lap and that was a very unlikely prospect in a 7 minute lap.

11th Place finish, just outside the coveted top 10.

www.ulstercyclocross.com/Results/Ulster_Cyclo_cross_2014_Round_1_Lurgan_Park_Results.htm

See you all at Lady Dixon Park on Sunday for Round 2