16 mile time trial - Ballynahinch - Hillsborough (map)
05 July 2012
With having to cancel Round 14 due to a heavy downpour which left standing water on the Dundrum Road it was great to see the sun finally appear this week for Round 15 of Dromara Cycling Club's Thursday night league. This was the second of the 16 mile time trials where the rider with the fastest combined times across both events wins the Fine Food Distributors Trophy. This time around the riders left from Ballynahinch and headed to Hillsborough before turning around and returning to Ballynahinch.
Given the fair weather there was a good turn out of 28 riders to take on this distance. The evening was warm with only a slight breeze at the start area which did turn into a stronger head wind out towards Annahilt. First away around 7 pm was Gary Bailie with Davy Robb leaving one minute behind him and Massimo Manganaro leaving one minute behind Davy. The rest of the riders also set off at one minute gaps.
Once all the riders were away the timekeepers crossed the road then, shielding their eyes from the strong sunlight, they peered into the distance to wait for the riders to return. Despite starting in seventh place it was Gavin Magowan who was the first to return to the line at Ballynahinch. Gavin set the second fastest time of the night (37 minutes and 16 seconds) and was only beaten by veteran time trialist Ivan Robinson (Ards CC) who finished in 35 minutes and 23 seconds. Third fastest was Gavin's brother Chris who was well pleased with him time of 37:53. Cathal Smyth (Phoenix CC) was fourth fastest with Marcus Magowan fifth and Trevor Wright sixth.
Looking at the combined times across both of the 16 mile time trials it was Gavin who had the fastest combined time and therefore he wins the trophy which will be presented at this year's prize giving night. Chris was second with Marcus third, Trevor Wright fourth and Conor Rice fifth.
In order to award points towards the club league table, the times set tonight were calculated as if it were a 10 mile time trial and then each rider had this time compared to their average time for completing a 10 mile distance. The ones who made the biggest improvement over their average time gain more points than those who made little or no improvement. Looking at these handicapped times it was Mary Hunter who had made the biggest improvement over her 10 mile TT time as she was over 2½ minutes faster than her average. The next rider with the biggest improvement was Paul Gick who improved his time by just over 2 minutes and 20 seconds. Bernie Monaghan had finished in a time which was just under 2 minutes better than her average with Tommy Downey, David Hawthorne, Martin McAnulty and Ted McKibbin all finishing more than one minutefaster than their respective averages.
Well done to all riders and many thanks to the timekeepers and to the marshals.
Next TUESDAY night (10 July 2012) will be a non-league road race on the Glasdrumman circuit. See website for details (www.dromaracc.co.uk).
Timekeepers: Aaron McGrady and Barry Kellett
Timekeeper assistants: Ronnie Smyth and Zak Hanna
Marshals: Barry Kane, Jonathan McBride and Anthony Quinn
Photographs & report: Martin Grimley
