Club road race - Flatfields/Maze circuit (map)
30 May 2013
The road race around Flatfields / Maze had been put off for a few weeks but finally got underway on Thursday 30 May 2013. This made it Round 9 of Dromara Cycling Club's league and the second road race this season. Many thanks to Pastor Alistair Ritchie for allowing us to use the car park at the Elim church on the Moira Road. It was a beautiful evening with bright blue skies but there was a strong wind which worked well for the finish straight as it was behind the riders but made it tough going on the way around the circuit towards the village of Maze.
The 31 riders, 22 from Dromara with 9 guests, were split into four groups on the road. Group 1 had 4 riders, Graham Beckett at his first road race, Nigel Sudlow making a welcome return to the club league, Kevin Walker trying his second road race with the club and an old hand, Paul Jess. Group 2 had 5 riders and they left 4 minutes 15 seconds later. Group 3 was the biggest group with 13 riders among them Derek Hanna who has been working and training in Germany. This group set off 6 minutes behind Group 1, or 1 minute 45 seconds behind Group 2. Group 4 was the "scratch" group which contained the strongest riders. They set off 10 minutes behind Group 1 which meant a 4 minute gap to the group in front. The race was 6 laps of the 4 mile circuit.
At the end of lap 1 the gap between Group 2 and Group 1 had dropped to under 4 minutes with the gap dropping to just under 1 minute between groups 2 and 3. Group 4 had gained 45 seconds on Group 3 but were still over 8 minutes behind Group 1.
At the end of lap 2 the gap had dropped to around 2 minutes 45 seconds between Group 1 and 2 and this gap did not drop for the remainer of the race. The gap between Groups 2 and 3 stayed the same with the gap between groups 3 and 4 dropping by over 30 seconds. The scratch group were now 6 minutes 20 seconds behind the leaders.
At the end of lap 3 it was only the scratch group who were doing any reeling in as they dropped the gap to Group 3 down to 1 minute 38 seconds. They were now just under 5 minutes behind the leaders.
After lap 4 the scratch group were just over 4 minutes behind the leaders but this meant only a 46 second gain whereas the previous 3 laps they had gained around 1 minute 40 seconds on Group 1. The other gaps stayed in place.
At the end of lap 5 Groups 2 and 3 had merged with the scratch group just 30 seconds behind them. The leaders had just over 3 minutes on the scratch riders.
On the final lap Graham Beckett had left his group and soloed over the line. Nigel was second and then the timekeepers waited for the bunch sprint final. Nathan Mullan, who was in the scratch group, finished 3rd finished just ahead of Ryan Calvert who has just returned to club league events after a recent crash in a road race. Gavin Magowan was 5th with a tight finish between Jonathan McBride and Zak Hanna who took 6th and 7th respectively.
Well done to all the riders. A big thanks to the timekeeper and to marshals. With the sun still shining it was the perfect occasion for some group photos.
Timekeeper: Colin Roy.
Timekeeper's assistant: Alan Corry and family
Marshals:
Corner 1 - Stephen Wallace, Stephen Younge and Gary Bailie
Corner 2 - Noel Gibson & son and Raymund Martin
Corner 3 - Conor Rice and Owen McManus
Corner 4 - Marty McAnulty, Marcus Magowan and Michael Mullan
Photographs and report: Martin Grimley
