10 mile individual time trial - Spa (map)
10 June 2010
It was a beautiful summer's evening, perfect for another cycling event in Dromara Cycling Club's busy calendar, this time with a 10 mile time trial on the Dunmore Road starting at Spa Lake. Thirty-three riders showed up to take part in this event, a reduced number as some of the riders were 'saving themselves' for the club's open road race on Saturday. First away was Anne Maguire setting off the 5 mile distance to Seaforde before turning and heading back to Spa Lake. Thirty seconds behind Anne were the junior riders Connor Mallon and Zak Hanna both separated by the thirty second interval. Canadian born Brendan Duff came along to try out our time trials, but Brendan is no stranger to competitive cycling as he had competed at a high level back in his youth. Among the Dromara members were two guests from other clubs, Tony Hare and Mervyn Cantley.
Quickest on the night was veteran rider Ronnie Smyth, who had a great weekend of racing in Donegal competing in the Rás Dun na nGall, 16th on the final stage, 15th in the overall general classification, 3rd vet and second in the team general classification! Next quickest was guest Tony Hare (Apollo CT), who was just less than 30 seconds slower than Ronnie and finished in a time of 24 minutes and 41 seconds. Third fastest was our own Gavin Magowan in a time of 25m 6s, fourth was Simon Welby in a time of 25m 32s with Noel Gibson just 6 seconds slower. Caroline Patterson was the fastest of the three women finishing in 28m 51s.
Comparing the times set tonight against the average times set this season, the league awards points for those who perform 'better than average'. Taking this into account, the rider with the biggest time increase over his average (almost 3 minutes) was Massimo Manganaro, who has now had a hat trick of maximum points in time trials. Next, with the greatest improvement, was Robert McDonald who finished almost 2 minutes faster than his average. The junior riders also performed well tonight with Zak Hanna improving by over a minute and Connor Mallon improving by just less than one minute. Peter Swann has only been out with the club three times this year and managed to finish almost a minute faster than his average time.
Time handicapped times below (->)
Many thanks to timekeepers Derek and Brian and to all the marshals Alan and Brian for keeping the riders safe. The next round is a road race on the Drumaroad circuit on Thursday 17 June 2010 starting at 6:50 pm.
Timekeepers: Derek Hanna and Brian McGrath
Marshall: Alan McMullan and Brian Steele
Report & photographs: Martin Grimley
Setting them off
Timekeepers
Brendan
