Hosted by Dromara Cycling Club
At Dunmore Mountain
| Irish Cross-Country Mountain Bike Championships 2009 Hosted by Dromara Cycling Club At Dunmore Mountain | |
| Saturday 18 July 2009 Irish XC MTB Championships 2009 Dunmore Mountain This year's Irish Cross-Country Mountain Biking National Championships was hosted by Dromara Cycling Club at Dunmore Mountain just outside Spa in County Down. The club had spent many nights preparing the mountain top course and had benefitted from a run of dry weather which helped make the course fully rideable. The course layout had not changed greatly from the Ulster Championship held at the same location last year with only a few alterations where the course was particularly wet or muddy. On the morning of the event, the club was graced with fine weather which helped to draw a large crowd of participants, friends and families from all across Ireland. Almost half the riders had come from the Republic of Ireland with some coming from as far afield as Galway and Cork to compete. The event was kindly sponsored by Belfast cycle shop, Bikedock, and supported by Müller and Red Bull. The first race got underway at 11:00 with 13 under 8 riders lined up under the Red Bull arch. They had to complete three laps of the mini course around the top of the field in among the spectators. Their course had included the tricky descent around the slope of the hill before going through the chicane of fallen tree trunks and up past the sign on area before racing through the arch. The competitors were almost all local with Mark Buller from Banbridge Cycling Club dominating from the whistle followed hotly by Drew Armstrong from the host club and another Banbridge rider Christopher Curry. Behind them came two more Banbridge riders Jack Baird and first female rider Niamh McKiverigan. The under 10s race started at 11:15 with a much reduced field of only four riders. They had to complete 6 laps of the mini course and it was another of the Buller family, John Buller (Banbridge CC) who set the standard winning comfortably ahead of Jamie Grifferty (Boyne MTB) and Fergal McConvey (Newry Wheelers) with host club's Ben Hanna taking a tumble on the tricky slope to finish fourth. Next up at 11:30 were the under 12s who had to complete 3 laps of the full field which included a fast run to the far gate before turning and climbing up over the brow of one hill, heading down along the marsh before climbing up the long drag towards the start line and then completing the mini course that the under 8s and under 10s had used. The Banbridge Club had five entries among the 11 competitors and three of these took the top three positions with James Curry leading his fellow club mates Richard and Joseph Baird. Christopher Weir and Connor Mallon from the host club finished 4th and 5th both of whom were trying out mountain bike racing for the first time. At midday three groups of riders lined up for the first of the races to include the two peaks of Dunmore mountain. First away were the six riders in the under 16s category among them Matthew Adair (Banbridge CC) and Robert Scanlon (Team WORC) who have dominated the National Points Series (NPS) races. As with all the NPS races this year, Matthew has finished ahead of Robert and today's 3 lap race was no exception with Matthew setting a blistering pace from the off completing the first lap two minutes ahead of Robert with the lead increasing each lap. Completing the top three was Brendan Scullion (Western Lakes) with Michael Runciman, also from the Banbridge club, finishing fourth. Setting off one minute behind the under 16s were the 24 male and female Sports riders who had to complete three laps of the main course. Among the riders there were four unattached to a cycling club, three women and seven from the host club. Ger Jackson (Epic MTB), who had twice tried the Masters category at the start of the year before dropping down to Sports, had a great contest with Rory MacLiam (Edge Sports), who finished top of the NPS Sports category, to finish less than 30 seconds ahead of Rory. Daragh Smith, also from Epic MTB, finished third. It was the host club's new recruit Damien McDonald who surprised everyone by finishing fourth having never entered a mountain bike race before. Damien has shown some great results on the road bike in the club league and it seems his stamina and pace made up for any technical skills he lacked. Behind Damien was another Epic MTB rider John Richardson and behind John was another local road race star, Darren Weir (Dromara CC) who hadn't entered a mountain bike race since the Ulster Championships at Dunmore back in September 2007. In the ladies event it was newcomer Andrea Harrower (Dromara CC) who finished over 11 minutes ahead of Anne Duffy (Newry Wheelers) and completing the podium was the host club's Caroline Patterson. Leaving one minute behind the Sports riders were the seven riders in the under 14s category. They had to complete three laps of the first peak of the mountain which meant three times over the rock slab which made for some exciting racing in this event. It was Mark Downey (Banbridge CC), who is normally found on a road bike, who tranferred his speed and stamina to finish ahead of Chris Oakley (XMTB McConvey Cycles) who has recently finished top of the NPS under 14 league. Finishing just 20 seconds behind Chris was Dromara Cycling Club star Zak Hanna. The under 14s were glad not to have to tackle the second peak of Dunmore mountain which towers over the first peak. The course wound its way from the top of the first peak, through the red feather flags, down to the open ground between the peaks, through stone walls and patches of marshland before the start of the climb up to the second peak. The climb was split into four parts with only a short rest in between as riders had to negotiate the grass and rocky surface concentrating on maintaining grip and not hitting any projecting stones. Arriving at the top of the climb, the riders could have glanced down onto the first peak far below but were more likely trying to take on fluids and slow their breathing. For the sports and under 16s the climbing stopped here but for the other categories there was one more climb which took the riders up to the very top of the peak, through the black feather flags then down a steep rocky drop and back along the flowing trail heading down the mountain. Before the other categories got started there was a prize giving for the underage and sports riders. This took place back at the sign on tent where a crowd had gathered to congratulate the winners. The under 8s and under 10s got medals from Dromara Cycling Club but the under 12s, under 14s and under 16s got both the club medals and national medals from Cycling Ireland. The sports men and women got medals from the host club. In was almost 2 pm when the next set of races began. First away were the Elite Men which had attracted ten riders from across Ireland with the notable exception of Olympian Robin Seymour (Team WORC) who, after winning the title for 15 years in a row, had decided not to contest the event this year. Also missing from the line up was local star Roger Aiken (Banbridge CC) who was unable to come to the event. The favourite on the day was Connor McConvey, now with the Dutch team De-Brink Ten Tuccher, who had come with a large contingency of family and friends all dressed in red t-shirts bearing his name. This "supporters club" certainly believed he could win the title and Connor was not about to disappoint. Connor set off from the start on a mission to dominate the race and had finished the first lap over a minute ahead of his nearest rival Ryan Sherlock (MTB Assoc of Dublin). Connor kept increasing the lead until after seven laps he was over nine minutes ahead of Ryan. Lewis Ferguson (Curran Racing) who failed to complete the championships back in 2008 finished a respectable 3rd with Evan Ryan (Team WORC), who also did not finish the 2008 championships, finishing 5th. In 6th place it was Ray O’Shaughnessy (Bike Pure) who won this year's NPS league in the Experts category. The final rider to complete all 7 laps was An Post's David O'Loughlin. Next up it was the Juniors and Elite women both setting off one minute behind the Elite Men with 5 laps to complete. In the five man Junior race it was road ace Jonny Beers (East Antrim - Audi) who's first lap of under 16 minutes set the benchmark that the others could not match. Jonny continued setting the fastest time per lap and at the end there was only himself and Tadhg Griffin (IMBRC) who finished all 5 laps. David McKenna (Sorrento) finished 3rd, one lap down. In the Elite women's race the 2007 National winner Beth McCluskey (Epic MTB) finished just ahead of 2008 National winner Caitlin Elliott (UCD) with this year's NPS Elite Women's winner Ciara McManus finishing third. Jacqueline O'Hagan (MTB Assoc of Dublin) finished fourth. After the Juniors and Elite Women, the Masters race began. This was the biggest field on the day with 38 riders lining up under the Red Bull arch waiting to compete 5 laps of the course. The event was unsurprisingly dominated by Elite rider James McCluskey (IMBRC). Behind James was John Mason who was unfortunately disqualified. In second place was Kieran McKenna (East Antrim - Audi) who had made the timekeepers life more difficult by not wearing the timing device as everyone else had. Only five seconds behind Kieran was Stuart Galloway (Team WORC) who was also third at the 2008 championships. In 4th place was fellow club mate Gordon Lucas who was followed by Paddy Daly (Rocky Mountain). In 6th place was Don Traver (Banbridge CC) who had improved one place on his result at the Nationals back in 2007. One minute after the Masters had started it was the turn of the Vets race with 21 riders lining up to take part in the four lap event. As per the Masters race there was no surprise when Elite rider Peter Buggle (Rocky Mountain) who finished first overall in the NPS Elite league, dominated this event lapping almost a minute ahead of nearest rival John Doris (Epic MTB) with Johnny McCabe (Cuchulainn CC) just 20 seconds behind. In fourth it was William Mulligan (Banbridge CC), who finished first overall in the NPS League in the Vet category and matched his 2007 nationals finish. Less than 30 seconds behind William was Vinnie Fitzsimons (Team WORC) who finished 5th less than 30 seconds ahead of Paul McMenanim (Leisure Lakes). Peter McConville (Newry Wheelers) was commassaire the last time the club used Dunmore mountain but this time he was on his bike and finished an excellent 7th almost two minutes ahead of Robbie Lamont (XMTB McConvey Cycles). Racing for the first time since the Nationals were last hosted in Northern Ireland back in 2007 was club secretary Trevor Annett who, despite the fact he is rarely seen on his bicycle, managed to complete 3 laps. Well done Trevor. The final group of riders to start racing were the Experts, those riders aged 20 to 30. There were 11 riders lined up, all but two from the Republic of Ireland. Kevin Stanley (IMBRC) seemed to be having it easy over the first two laps before getting the third all wrong and allowing the gap to close between him and Sean Downey (MTB Assoc of Dublin). Kevin managed to hold onto his lead to finish just over 30 seconds ahead of Sean with Luke Smaul (Epic MTB) just 23 seconds behind Sean. Ross McClure, also from Epic MTB, was fourth with Dave O'Brien fifth. Highest places Ulster rider was Allister Macsorley (Apollo) in 8th place. The weather had held throughout the day with an overcast sky and warm temperatures. The course was dry throughout the day but on the final laps of the final races the heavens opened and spectators and riders who had finished all headed for shelter. The senior awards ceremony had to take place under the canvas roofs of the sign on gazebos. The juniors, masters, vets, elite men and women were all eligible for national medals with only the Experts category missing out. All winners were presented with trophies from the club and the overall winner in the categories received a Cycling Ireland jersey. The winners will also receive national medals at an awards dinner towards the end of the year. Dromara Cycling Club wish to thank:
Derek and Noeleen Hanna, Bernie Monaghan, Alan Reid, Stephen Phillips, Brian McGrath, Kevin McDonald, Peter Bryson, Stephen Wallace, Michael Pyper, Davy Robb and also Pauline Galway and Damien Smyth. And to anyone else I have failed to mention above. Full list of results here More photos by: Ross Galway here Gavin Magowan here Grimley family here and here Report by Martin Grimley |               |
 Under 8 winners |  Under 10 winners |
 Under 12 winners |  Under 14 winners |
 Under 16 winners |  Sports women winners |
 Sports men winners |  Experts winners |
 Masters winners |  Vets winners |
 Juniors winner |  Elite women winners |
 Under 23 winners |  Elite men winners |
