Dromara Trail Quest League Round 1 [Dromara Football Club]
The first round of Dromara Cycling Club's 2010 Winter Trail Quests took place on Sunday 31 October 2010 from the event headquarters at Dromara Village Football Club. These mountain bike orienteering events appeal to a whole range of cyclists with different levels of fitness and skill. The object is to find as many markers as possible within the time frame which is either 2 hours or the more popular 3½ hour duration. The participants can work as teams or solo and are issued with a map and a list of clues. The proceeds from these leisure events help raise funds for the Children's Cancer Care home located in Shimna Valley.
Given the date of this event there was a Halloween theme in place with teams awarded points if they turned up in fancy dress. This all added to the good natured atmosphere at the start of the day which was complemented with fine dry weather despite earlier predictions of downpours. This event had attracted 40 teams made up of 87 riders from various cycling clubs, orienteering clubs and also a sizeable portion not with any club. First team away at 10:31 was "Siouxee and the Banshee", a male and female who took part in last year's series of events. The rest of the teams following at one minute intervals when they were handed their map and clue sheet by race organiser Derek Hanna. Of the 40 teams, 3 had junior members and had opted for the 2 hour event.
The route choice was a key factor to the success of the day and teams first had to study their maps and decide which route would be best to get the most points. The map covered an area south of the football club with markers located as far down as Deehommed Mountain and as far east as Drumboy Hill. The route had included the famous climb up to Slieve Croob which has stunning views across County Down. It wasn't the only tough climb with Dree Hill and the Windy Gap part of the course the riders were certainly made to work for the points that each marker was worth.
When the riders returned to the football club they were able to make use of the showers before tucking into some hot soup and rolls. The post event discussions are one of the attractions of these leisure mountain biking events allowing all the riders to share their experiences of the terrain and locating the markers.
On the day it was team "The Losers", made up of 3 members of Dromara Cycling Club, who found all the markers to win the event with 480 points. Solo rider Alan John Richardson (team Mummy's Special Boy) finished second with 470 points with four teams sharing third position including Dublin based team Mickysrose, Borat and the Boys, Not the Sunday Run 1 and solo rider Bobby Smyth (team Helter Skelter). In the 2 hour event it was junior team "Bert and Fred" (Brian Mc Burney & Andrew Mc Burney) who finished first.
Many thanks to Derek Hanna from the club for organising the event and to the Dromara Village Football Club for their continued support.
Round 2 of the league will be held on Sunday 5 December 2010 around the Lagan Valley area. See website for more details www.dromaracc.co.uk
