Cyclocross moves to Dungannon for Round 3

by Rich · October 27, 2015

Last week saw unbelievably dry conditions at Irvinestown with a few complaining that they missed the muck. A bit of rain over the week and the Dungannon course can become very challenging.

With Martin Grimley making some poor excuse about needing to be out of the country for “training” so he left all the Commissionaire’s duties to a very able Lisa Millar.

First to get off the line are the junior racers and in the under 14’s Ben Wilson produced another excellent ride to take second place with Fraser Harrower showing he is getting faster with an excellent 11th place.

Another Podium for young Ben

In the MTB Support Race Robert Davidson and Derek Miniss represented the club in a tough race. Derek produced an super ride to take 21st with Robert not too far behind in 30th.

The Ladies Race and B Race took off at a frantic pace to get to the forest. In the ladies race DCC’s Jackie Wade’s first season in cyclocross is proving to a successful one as she made the top 10 on a very technical course.

Just loving the CycloCross

In the B race Davy Broome has been proving that converting from MTB to cyclocross is suiting him well. He produced an excellent race starting off at a slower pace than his rivals but picking them off as the laps ticked down. With a 6th place now tucked under his belt it surely wont be long until he moves up to the “A” Race.

Picking off the rivals one by one

In the Wilson household there is one man under pressure to perform due to the rest of the family collecting podiums all over the place. Thankfully Brian had a great race taking 22nd place and complaining it wasn’t mucky enough.

What I would give for some real muck

This course has beaten John Shanks for the last two years – rear wheels tend to bend on this course. This year he was able to make it around the whole course with no issues to take 13th. Graham Beckett, Adrian Booth & Mike Barton battled each other through the whole race but it was Graham Beckett who made the gap to take 29th followed by the MTB Club League champ in 34th with Mike taking 41st. Steve Nugent is having his first season in cyclocross and loving it – thanks to Deek Hanna for lending him a top for the race he finished a very respectable 61st.

Dont look behind you Mr Booth!!!

This year Dromara CC has been one of the top clubs making the numbers up in the “A” Race. After last weeks podium Barry Kellett was keen to see if he could repeat the performance but a puncture on the 2nd lap stopped that. He did manage to make it to the pits to change bike and battle his way back to a superb 7th Place.

Zak Hanna’s move to cyclocross has certainly been a great decision as this week he managed to put brakes on his bike (money spent on the bike by Zak – I’ve heard it all now). This helped him produce a sterling performance and collect 24th place(4th Espoir).

The joys about being in Dromara CC is that you find the DNA of every DCC cyclist is not to give an inch especially if it is your club mate.

Out of my way!!

This battle proved almost fatal for both with Nathan a DNF and Peter getting caught by an auld lad ;-).

The other DCC battle was being fought out not far behind with Graham Smyth, Derek Graham and Richard Cowan.

Leading the way

With a final push on the penultimate lap Graham Smyth and Richard Cowan managed to make the final lap and it was Graham (the youngster by the way) made the decisive move on the run up the climb to take 36th from Richard C in 37th. Peter Davidson took 40th with Derek in 51st.

This bike seems to have got heavier

The video nasty of the week goes to Derek Graham:

Many thanks go out to the Island Wheelers Club for creating a great course with plenty of muck and very tasty refreshments. Also a great job by Lisa Millar keeping everyone in order for the day.

Below is a link to all the photos of the DCC riders: