Ulster Cyclocross Series finishes with success for Dromara CC
It is hard to believe that the Ulster Cyclo-Cross Series is over for another year without a a suitable course to break derailleurs and give the pit team a few challenges. The last round of the series was at Ormeau Park where the XMTB Cycling Club had created a very challenging course which was made a bit more treacherous with the rain that fell on Friday. As with every race the Under 6’s took to the start line first to show everyone that sure its only a bit of mud. Tom, Hugh and Anna took their bike to the start line, checked the numbers were straight and took off when the whistle was blown. It was two laps of the mucky course and by the looks of things everyone enjoyed it. The U8 boys saw two top Dromara CC lads take to the start line and Oscar McBride and Eoin Foley took 13th and 16th respectively. In the Under 10’s race the course was certainly getting cut up, Aoife Kellett (7th) and Eva Cowan (13th) carved through the course and certainly finished with plenty of the course on them.
In the Under 12’s boys race young James Armstrong showed everyone that he has skills to spare as he flew around the course making light work of the technical mucky corners as he opened an unassailable lead to even have time to take it easy and decide how he was going to celebrate his victory. The start of the series would see James battling to make the podium but halfway through the season he has found the winning formula and this would lead to him claiming the series victory. Quite an achievement and surely one to watch in the future.
In the Under 16’s boys the ever consistent Fraser Harrower did the club colours proud with a polished performance to claim 8th place. The MTB Support race with see Mick Foley battle around the course and show off his MTB skills as he would get pushed right to the line to hold on to his 3rd place. This effort would be very important as he would also leapfrog into 3rd place in the Series sealing a great season for Mick and no doubt a man to watch for next season off road club league championship.
The B race would see Paul Hamilton, Brian Kellett, Darren McCann, Adi Booth, Gibson Chambers, Derek Graham, Robert Davison, John McGuigan and Mike Barton put their wheels on the start line all with plenty to battle for. It would be Darren McCann that would use his running strength to break into the top 3 for most of the race but it wasn’t something he could hold as he would miss out on a podium finish 4th. The great news is that he managed to get upgraded to the A race for next season. Paul Hamilton would manage to hold off Brian Kellett to taking bragging rights back until next season as the two would trade places throughout the race until Paul opened a small gap with a few laps to go. The main battle would see two heavy weights of the Dromara CC Off Road setup go head to head in what would turn out to be the race of the day. On the first lap it would be Chambers that would take first blood, however, Booth made a sustained effort to pull away and had managed to gap the ever youth full Chambers but it was a gap that would not b sustained and back came Chambers. With slabbers tripping the both of them it would come down to the last lap with torment from the Dromara posse not sure how this would end. On the final corner, it would be Booth to take the sprint from the last corner and force Chambers to go the long way around. This didn’t stop Chambers from pushing Booth right to the finish line as Booth would claim the bragging rights by half a wheel. Behind them, Derek Graham, Robert Davison and Mike Barton would have their own battle with Robert taking 25th, Derek 26th and Bart 30th. The final Dromara man was John McGuigan who looked to be loving to be back in the mid again.
The Dromara Ladies of Diana Wilson, Andra Hamilton and Martina Hawkins would all put in great performances in a course that was getting harder every lap that was done. Diane would come in 5th with Martina not far behind in 9th with the ever-improving Andra Hamilton claim 13th place.
The main race of the day would see Neil Armstrong, Richard Cowan and the comeback kid Ben Wilson start in a packed field for the CX A Race. The start was flat out as always and Neil and Ben would show their fast start would pay dividends to get through the narrow corners early on. Neil would produce another great ride to claim a top 20 place for the first time with Richard managing to hold off a fast finishing Ben Wilson to take 30th and 31st respectively.
And with that, the Ulster Cyclocross series was over. This isn’t the end of the season as next up is the Ulster Cyclocross Championship on the 9th December followed by the Irish National Championships in January. Many thanks to XMTB for producing another challenging course as well as all the helpers for making the race possible.
