Report of the action
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K-Capital Cup - Round 2 Report of the action |
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| K Capital Cup - Round 2 - Moneyscalp Wood 23 March 2008 Today saw round 2 of the prestigious K-Capital Cup, MTB series of 4 international standard races held across both NI and ROI. It was the turn of Northern Ireland to host this round with Banbridge Cycling Club putting in a huge effort to prepare Moneyscalp wood for the occasion. As per the previous round at Kilruddery, this event attached a large number of MTB riders from NI, ROI, GB and Europe. Banbridge CC have been blessed with a week of fairly dry weather which made a great improvement to the course since this time last week. There were a few last minute alternations to avoid having to use some very soggy areas but also a few additional sections added to keep the length of the course at 3.3 miles for the main races. The U8, U10 and U12 races were all held close to the entrance of the wood with laps up a steep embankment but joining the downhill track back to the sign on tent. Dromara CC was represented by Ben Hanna who coped well with his new, much larger, bike. Well done Ben. Dromara CC's other young talent, Zak Hanna, had his first outing in the U14's which was a big step up for him. The U14's had to complete one full lap of the big circuit. Well done Zak. He even passed the sports rider Stephen Prentice on the way round, which must have been a good boost for Zak's confidence. The U14, U16 and senior riders gathered at the bottom of the main fire road for the start of their races. Once the whistle blew it was a dash up the fire road to the plateau where the first entrance to the wood was a steep drop on the right hand side. This was the start of the first of four circuits leading off from the fire road. This one had a large selection of downhill single track and some tricky uphill parts with roots and rocks causing their usual mayhem. Once back onto the fire road it was another push up the hill to the next plateau and then into the left for a 'bus stop' entry through the woods (ie short section), before crossing over the fire road and entering the wood on the right. This loop was not as hilly as the previous one with some great, dry single track through the trees ending in a stone crossing across the ditch and back onto the fire road. Now for the long drag up the fire road to the top of Moneyscalp where the riders were exposed to a cold northerly wind. Granted there were some nice views but riders would have preferred the shelter of some trees on this stretch. The course followed the fire road to the left and up onto another plateau. At the end of which there was a steep drop, with a sharp right hand turn, to get back into the wood. This section was fairly mucky in parts making the going quite tough. Banbrige CC had built a large number of bridges to get the riders across the rutts and drains. It was a reasonably flat section with only the steep climb back up the newly laid stones to the fire road again. Once the riders went up a short rise there was a chance to hit the big gears for a fast bust along the fire road before a great off-slip into the trees again. This off-slip made for a fast start to a long section of single track but the speed give way later on to a couple of muddy climbs. As this section headed back towards the main spectator group there was the 'highlight' of the race (or worst part for some), a 8-10 foot drop off down a rocky face. This area had attached a gathering of spectators and photographers to watch and capture the action. After the drop, the course headed up again, over a grassy embankment and joined the U8 - U12 circuit. The downhill part allowed for the fearless to gain time before bursting out of the trees at the main entrance, back onto the fire road. Course designers then had one last trial for the cyclists with a final loop starting at the bottom of the fire road hill and finishing on a climb up to the finish line. This final loop had a very quick first section before the course turned upwards, climbing back up the hill and past the obstacles of tree root, stones and mud. There was a large bunch of Sports riders gathered for the 12 pm start of their 3 laps of the main course. In the bunch were rivals Stephen Prentice (Banbridge CC), Ronnie Ogilby (XMTB) and Martin Grimley (Dromara CC). As the start was on a steep hill climb Martin was able to pull away from Stevie and Ronnie. At the finish line it was Dromara, XMTB, Banbridge but in terms of how they performed against the rest, it was the usual positions of mid to end table. Ross Galway was Dromara CC's only other entry at this event, and well done to 'birthday boy' Ross for tackling the 5 lap Experts race, only his second Expert race ever. After 3 laps he was starting to suffer from cramps again, and to add to his trouble, he crashed at the rocky drop off on his third lap (shortly after I asked him to "show Stevie how it is done...!". Oops! ). All-in-all an excellent event, well organised and very challenging. Well done Banbridge CC. U-8 2 small laps 1 Stuart Dunlop Banbridge CC 5.19 2 Shenna McKiverigan Banbridge CC 5.21 3 Mark Buller Banbridge CC 5.39 4 Ben Hanna Dromara CC 6.00 5 Niamh McKiverigan Banbridge CC 6.12 6 Rebekah Ogilby XMTB 7.23 7 Darra Cullen U/A 8.26 U-14 1 lap 1 Robert Anderson Orchard Juiced 30.21 2 Kyle McEwan XMTB 31.32 3 Chris Oakley XMTB 31.57 4 Claire Oakley XMTB 32.40 5 Dan Runciman Banbridge CC 32.41 6 Zak Hanna Dromara CC 35.39 7 Stuart Ballantine XMTB 36.21 8 Nathanael Smyth XMTB 42.25 9 Curtis Bell XMTB 45.55 SPORTS 3 laps 1 Douglas Shearer U/A 63.50 2 Mark Solon U/A 74.52 3 Sean Donnelly Chain Reaction 75.54 4 David Askin Lucan 77.05 5 Alan Bingham Cuchulainn CC 77.20 6 Gareth McKee Banbridge CC 77.55 7 Matt Casey XMTB 78.44 8 Justin Reid XMTB 82.24 9 Mark Potts Omagh Wheelers 82.37 10 Brian Cox UCD 82.54 11 Barry Douglas Cuchulainn CC 83.28 12 Ewan Doherty Chain Reaction 84.31 13 Martin Grimley Dromara CC 89.29 14 Ronnie Ogilby XMTB 90.58 15 Darren Cox IMBRC 91.09 16 Johnathan McKee Banbridge CC 91.10 17 Shane Geoghan MAD 91.15 18 Stephen Prentice Banbridge CC 91.45 19 Liam Howard U/A 92.13 20 Linda Haug Sorrento CC 93.25 Women 21 Ben Marchant IMBRC 95.21 22 Rachel Wisdom Team Worc 96.04 Women 23 David Graham Banbridge CC 97.48 24 Val O'Neill Banbridge CC 98.30 Women 25 Cornelius Duffy IMBRC 99.05 26 Aisling Corkery MAD 100.55 Women 27 Peter Collins Cuchulainn CC 2 laps 28 Peter Chadwick Epic 2 laps 29 Sam Curran Banbridge CC 2 laps 30 Richard Greer U/A 2 laps 31 Paul Barry IMBRC 2 laps 32 John Griffery U/A 2 laps 33 Nigel McConnell MAD 2 laps 34 Nicola Oldham Banbridge CC 2 laps Women 35 Andrew Adair Banbridge CC 2 laps 36 Harriett Mayne Banbridge CC 2 laps Women Experts 5 laps 1 Jack Richards 2 Luke Manning 3 Oisin Boydell 4 Gary Henning 5 Tim James 6 Neil Summers 7 Luke Smaul 8 Darragh Maloney 9 David O'Brien 10 Earl McClenaghan 11 Oliver Castle 1 Lap 12 Ross Galway 1 Lap Ben Reid 3 DNF Ross McClure DNF Stephen Scrivener DNF Dave O'Neill DNF James Pittam DNF Oisin Fitzgerald DNF A full list of the results can be found on the K-Capital cup website. Round 3 will be at Djouce Woods, Co. Wicklow on 6 April 2008 For further comment and discussion about this race see our message board Photos by Pauline G. Report by Martin |
Ross 
Martin 
Martin (note Stevie in the background) 
Ronnie and Stevie |