A busy weekend for Dromara with podiums and hills

by Rich · August 8, 2018

The 5th August 2018 seems to have been a popular date for cycling events with the Dromara Hilly on as well as the Ulster XC MTB championships. This report will stick with the MTB success and you will have to wait for the hilly report coming up later in the week.

At the start of the week the rain clouds had gathered with some hoping for a wet Sunday and others hoping for a dry but not too warm day. The Shimna CC had been working hard planning a course that would challenge all aspects of your MTB skill set. When you ride the course it is sometimes forgotten the hard work and many hours that go into first coming up with a vicious and cruel course but also preparing it so that it is safe for everyone. Mickey Clarke’s team certainly ticked the boxes on all counts as comments circulated of it being a “real mountain bikers course” which usually means I’ll be running out of skill.

The first race of the day were the U6 race with many new young stars getting a taste of the action followed by the U8’s race that would see Riley Broome and Eva Cowan slice through the forest undergrowth and claim 3rd and 4th place respectively. Always nice to see Dromara CC getting on the first podium of the day. The U10’s girls race would see Lexi Broome take to the start line and show the extra tuesday nights training was paying of as she took a 5th place. The U10’s boys race was as competitive as ever and James Armstrong showed plenty of fight as he battled to make the podium and snatch a 2nd place by the narrowest of margins.

With Ben Wilson away at the GB round of the MTB XC Fraser Harrower and Cameron McCusker where left to fly the flag in the Under 16’s boy race and they didnt disappoint with Fraser taking a bronze medal and Cameron claiming a 4th place in a competitive field of racers.

Fraser Harrower on his way to bronze

The M50 men and the ladies race were next off and Robert Davison had a great race which would see him not just battle onto the podium but claim a clear 2nd place to get a silver medal. For Wannita Broome it was almost a championships to forget after a great start she was in 2nd place and ready to push on but not one but two punctures later would see her fall back and make a special effort to fight back for her bronze medal.

The M40’s is always a competitive field and this year was no different with Neil Armstrong, Davy Broome, Brian Wilson, Adi Booth and Richard Cowan. The first lap saw a line of Dromara men racing up the climb but a few punctures and bad luck would see none of them on the podium but who cares about that when you can be the first Dromara man home. Davy Broome would take that honour even having time to fix a puncture in the pits followed by Adi Booth then Richard Cowan taking 6th, 7th and 8th place. Neil Armstrong and Brian Wilson ruing their bad luck collecting punctures that would see Neil take 13th.

The M30’s was missing our very own Barry Kellett as he was away on media duties after his National championship success so that left it for Graham Smyth to take the plaudits. He produced an excellent performance to take 7th place.

It was a great event put on by Shimna CC and the hardwork put in really showed and thanks to Marcus Cromie for the photos. On the international front Peter Davison was in Limerick for the Gravity Enduro that would see him take 2nd place in the Pro Men category.

Ben Wilson finished 21st in the race at the Royal Welsh Showgrounds on Sunday to complete the series. In the series he ended up 26th out of over 70 riders which is an impressive performance considering the calibre of riders in the series. From all the reports he did Dromara CC proud with some very mature riding and I am sure there is more to come.