Festive frolics at the End of season Dinner

Around 60 Dromara CC members and guests attended the club’s Christmas dinner and awards night last Friday in Rockmount Golf Club.   Everyone enjoyed a delicious 3-course Christmas meal whilst the awards and trophies for the 2015 season were presented, with club secretary Martin Grimley in his usual role as master of ceremonies.

In the club road league, there were time trialling trophies for Brendan “Duffman” Taylor, Colin McGready and Zak Hanna.  The club’s leading road rider Gavin Magowan swept the board with a total of 6 individual awards for both time trials and road races.   Gavin also shared the team time trial award with his brother Chris Magowan for the 6^th year in a row, a truly impressive achievement for the two club stalwarts.

Barry Kellett confirmed our suspicions that he his really a roadie at heart, lifting the trophy for the best combined time on the Lurgan Road TT, and Zak Hanna took both of the season’s hill climbing awards, showing he is once again the man to beat on the steep stuff.

Gavin needed an extra taxi to take home all the silverware….

In the overall club league standings, Gavin Magowan had to settle for second place, with up and coming youngster Matthew  Gibson taking the honours, along with the shield for outright winner in the Anahilt road race.  Graham McConnell took best unplaced rider in the vet (over 40) age group, having  put in some impressive time trial times throughout the season.

A new jersey for young Matthew Gibson

Lisa Millar has had an outstanding year on the bike, and lifted 3 of the 4 womens trophies, including Womens League outright winner.  Jackie Wade won the Queen of the Mountain Shield for best female hill climber, an impressive result for a relative newcomer to the sport.

Away from the tarmac, the MTB league trophy was won by David Broome, with the Championship award going to Adrian Booth.  The Vivienne Crawford MTB award went to Peter “Sagan” Davison, who continues to “wheelie” impress with his fantastic skills in almost all of the off-road disciplines.

In a special one-off award, Michael Cassidy was recognised for his outstanding personal achievement of having completed the legendary Paris-Brest-Paris 1200km ultra-endurance race.

Emma Johnson was the deserved winner of the 2015 volunteer of the year award, having given up her time to assist in the running of practically every major event run by the club this season.

Volunteer of the year – Emma Johnson

The final award of the night was the prestigious Tailwind award, presented by Peter Bryson.  This accolade recognises exemplary achievement and devotion to both the club and the sport of cycling in general, both on and off the bike, and was presented to one of the clubs most active and enthusiastic members, Lisa Millar.  Well done Lisa!

Peter was delighted to present the Tailwind award…

After the award presentation, a charity prize draw was held, kindly sponsored by club partner Chain Reaction Cycles.  The raffle raised around £140 for the chosen charity, Simon Community.  After the raffle, the DJ got the party started, and the rest of the evening was an enjoyable mix of chatting, dancing and singing.

Congratulations to all of the award winners, and thank you to everyone who attended the dinner for coming along to support the club.  We wish all Dromara CC members and friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Cycling New Year.  Oh, and don’t forget the last official club event of 2015, the infamous Stew Run, which will be on Sunday 20^th December (more info to follow).

More photos of the evening’s festivities below, along with a table of all the prize winners.