Kellett becomes National MTB XC Champion

On Sunday the very best of Irish MTB XC arrived at Castlewellan Forest Park to see who would take the national champions jersey away for 2018. As always there is much debate about who would give Gareth McKee a run for his money in the Elite race. Dromara CC would have great representation in several of the categories. The hosts for the day were Banbridge CC and normally in the report they would get the thanks at the end but the Banbridge club had the course in perfect condition and Dromara CC would like to pass on our appreciation and thanks to the Marshals and helpers who made the race as professional as ever. The first race that would see the Dromara CC jersey in action would be the Under 16 boys with Ben Wilson putting his wheel on the start line. Like all categories, the talent is brimming and it was Darren Rafferty from Island Wheelers that would make the break at the front to take the win. However behind him Ruairi Coghlan, Dean Harvey and Ben would battle it out for the podium places with the difference between all three never amounting to more than 20 secs. With Ben closing in on the podium places the chequered flag would come down too soon as he would claim 4^th place.

Ben Wilson tackling the steps on his way to 4th place

In the womens race Wannita Broome put in a battling performance to claim 5^th place in a very competitive field. The M40 race would see Neil Armstrong, Paul Hamilton, Adi Booth and Richard Cowan take part in the most well-represented category. The heat was certainly increasing and the race was very competitive with most of us racing for pride rather than the victory. Adi Booth would be the best of Dromara in 24^th place with Richard Cowan just behind in 25^th after a bit of extra running training on the last lap due to a mechanical, Neil Armstrong would take 27^th with Paul Hamilton after such a promising start had to pull out with a mechanical. The M50 race would see Robert Davison sneak back on to the MTB to put in a brave performance and claim 7^th place.

The Elite category would see Graham Smyth take to the start line in the most competitive field I have seen for some time. He produced a brilliant race in savage conditions to claim 14^th place with Gareth McKee showing he is a class above claiming another National Championship. The only race we have to talk about is the M30 category and our very own Barry Kellett lined up with his fancy new MTB shoes to see what he could do. The temperature had really increased and the long climb at the start would really start to hurt as the laps kept coming. In the early laps it was nip and tuck with the top 2 but the elastic would finally snap and Barry Kellett would take the chequered flag to become the M30 Irish MTB XC National Champion 2018. It has a nice ring to it.

Peter Davison was at the Downhill National Champs and he was showing he still has plenty of skills to show off with an excellent 12th place.

Next up is the real championship race with all the MTBers heading for one final race on Friday night to see who will be crowned Dromara CC MTB Club Champion. A few bikes will need to be patched up before then.