10 mile time trial, Lurgan Road, Dromore (map)
14 July 2011
Back by popular demand was the 10 mile time trial at the Lurgan Road just outside Dromore which was the 16th round of Dromara Cycling Clubs' Thursday evening league. The busy route with many bends and rises is a challenge for all riders to get a clean run to finish well. Rodney Stewart unveiled his new time trial bike , which he has been working on for a few weeks, and he was out to put the bike through a tough first test. Noel Gibson turned up to help with marshalling despite having been knocked off his bike the night before and was still stiff and sore from the injuries. Noel had brought along some photos of his broken bicycle further emphasising how lucky he was to have not been injured more severely. The evening was warm with little wind and heavy cloud cover and the fair weather attracted a large group of 32 riders including 5 guests from other clubs.
The riders were lined up around 7 pm with the first off, Paul Gick, starting us off. Each rider was separated by one minute gaps and there were still riders starting when the first of the riders, Gary Bailie, was returning. Fastest rider on the night was Ronnie Smyth who finished in 23 minutes 22 seconds and was 16 seconds faster than closest rival Gavin Magowan. Third fastest was visitor Junior McAuley (Apollo CT) in a time of 24m 51s just 6 seconds faster than Chris Magowan. Rodney's first run out on his new bike saw him complete the distance in one second under 25 minutes. Visitors from West Down Wheelers (WDW) Paul Wilkinson and John Kernaghan were 6th and 7th respectively with John Clyde finishing 8th, another WDW rider Mark Alexander 9th and Phil O'Neill 10th.
Comparing the times for the 10 mile distance tonight with those set across the season so far, the Dromara CC riders are able to then see who had made the biggest time improvement. Getting the 40 points for the league this week was Derek Hanna who was over 2 minutes faster than his average time. Next improver was Rodney Stewart finishing just over 1½ minutes faster than his average. Gary Bailie and Ted McKibbin both improved by around 1½ minutes with Conor Rice improving by 1 minute 12 seconds over his average. Ronnie Smyth continues to improve finishing 1 minute 10 seconds faster than his average.
Well done to all riders and many thanks to the timekeepers and marshals. Round 17 will be a road race on the Kinallen circuit next Thursday (21 July 2011).
Timekeepers: Philip Boyle and Ivan Bradford
Timekeepers' assistant: Philip Wilson
Marshals: Nigel Sudlow, Noel Gibson, Dennis McMullan
Report and photos: Martin Grimley
