Dromara Trail Quest League Round 4
[Seaforde]
Round 4 of Dromara Cycling Club's Winter Trail Quests took place from event headquarters at Brennan's Garage in Seaforde on Sunday 16 January 2011. This round was scheduled to happen just after Christmas but the wintery conditions had forced the postponement. Thankfully the weather for return to Brennan's was much better with mild conditions, no rain but some gusty wind at times. The Trail Quests are off-road mountain bike orienteering events which have teams of riders searching for markers of various values from 10 points to 40 points in a set time period. The most popular event is the 3½ hour challenge with 31 teams signing on and only one team (father and son pairing) doing the 2 hour event. Riders starting at one minute intervals starting at 10:31 when they are given a list of questions and a map showing the location of the markers. There were markers placed from Drumaness in the north to Dundrum in the south and as far west as Drumaroad. The markers were at road junctions, up lanes, on trees, stiles and gate posts. The money raised from the series of events is going to the club's chosen charity, the Northern Ireland Cancer Care home at Shimna Valley.
In total there were 460 points available and the top 3 teams were all solo riders with Paul McMinn collecting an impressive 370 points followed by Graham Boyd "X-men" achieving 345 points with orienteer Paul McArthur finishing third on 327 points. Team RoadRunner, who had won the last round, finished fourth with 288 points but the Banbridge CC team "Muttz Nutts" had a great event finishing fifth overall especially since these veteran riders are well known to stop for a tea break in the middle of their challenge. Solo rider Gavin Millington was sixth on 275 points just ahead of current series leaders, team "The Losers" who got 270.
Some of the teams did not fair so well. Solo rider Ivan Robinson and team "The Mexicans" incurring severe time penalties for arriving back to base late (38 and 42 minutes respectively).
On the return to Brennan's garage the answer sheets were handed in and the riders were handed tickets for the food court at the garage. Soup, rolls, tea & coffee were on offer and went down really well whilst stories of adventures were shared.
Many thanks to Ross Galway for setting up the event and to the staff at Brennan's for the great food.
The final round of the Winter Series will take place on Sunday 30 January 2011 from the headquarters at Shimna Valley Care Home in Bryansford. See website for more details (www.dromaracc.co.uk).
Photos and report by Martin Grimley
