TrailBlazers Trail Quest 17 May 2009

Trailblazers Trail Quest 2009
Round 3 - Sperrins

Sunday 17 May 2009
An Creagan, Co. Tyrone

Round 3 of the Trailblazers 2009 Trailquest series took place on Sunday 17 May 2009 and this time the event moved to County Tyrone to the An Creagan visitors centre off the main Cookstown to Omagh road. Twenty teams had gathered at the centre and the fast whirling wind turbine was the give away that the weather was not ideal for cycling. However, by the time we got signed on with Ivan Millar the wind turbine had ceased moving and the weather started to improve. Most of the teams set off after 11 am and had 24 control points to aim for across 130 square kilometres of hilly terrain. The visitors centre was marked in the centre of the A4 laminated map of the area and the teams had to decide the most ideal route around the 4 quadrants of the map. As per usual there were two event times available, the 2 hour course or the more popular 4 hour course, but even four hours was not enough time to get to every control point. The landscape did not provide much shelter for within the first 2 hours the rain came back on and the wind picked up. There were many points down at the rivers and lakes which meant quite a bit of climbing was involved. Thankfully in the later half of the event the sun started to make an appearance and the riders started to take in some of the rolling scenery in the area.

As per the last round there were two teams entered from Dromara cycling club. The winners in the last round were the successful three man team "The Losers" who were back to repeat their win. Again riding solo was Martin under team name "Lone Zeppelin". Both teams had chosen the 4-hour format. Also joining in the fun was Dromara youth rider Matthew Patterson who had teamed up with Jack Millar to form "Team DirtATB". "The Losers" (Dennis, Alan and Stewart) were just beaten by 5 points from "Gerry's Team" achieving 470 out of a possible 600 points on the day. Well done lads. All riders then enjoyed the tea, coffee and scones organised through the An Creagan centre while discussing their adventures and aches and pains.

Many thanks to Ivan Park, Ivan Millar and co for all their hard work in setting up and administering the event. The next Trailblazers Trail Quest adventure will take place on 7 June 2009 in Fermanagh (see the Trailblazers website for more details).

Results

2 hour course

Team	Category	Score	Penalties	Total
AG's team	Veteran	120	0	120
Soloeffort	Veteran	40	0	40
Lance Hamstrung	Junior	90	-2	88
Team extreme	Junior	110	-115	0

4 hour course

Team	Category	Score	Penalties	Total
Gerrys team	Open	480	-5	475
The Losers	Open	470	0	470
The One & Joe	Open	480	-15	465
The Maryland2	Mixed	440	-5	435
HelterSkelter	Open	410	0	410
Billys team	Veteran	390	0	390
The Horish	Open	370	0	370
Tube and spoon	Veteran	370	0	370
A Hasbeen & A Neverwas	Veteran	350	0	350
Lone Zeppelin	Open	350	-1	349
Nocturnal	Open	430	-95	335
Lost in Space	Veteran	320	0	320
SteveO	Mixed	280	0	280
Team DIRTATB	Junior	280	0	280
CCAR Soup n Muffins	Female	160	-5	155
Pocket rockets	Junior	120	0	120