Scottish XC 2009 Round 1

Nineteen mountain bikers from Northern Ireland head off for the first round of the Scottish XC Series 2009

Sunday 29 March 2009
Kirroughtree forest, Scotland
Round 1 Scottish XC Series

An early morning start for the nineteen Northern Ireland mountain bikers who set off for Scotland for the first round of the Scottish Cross Country Series of races held in Kirroughtree forest less than one hour from the port of Stranraer. Along for the challenge were 10 riders from Banbridge Cycling Club, 3 from XMTB McConvey Cycles, 2 from Dromara CC, Aiden McDonald (formerly with Apollo CT) and 3 unattached ladies. The boat left and arrived on time and the convoy of vehicles set off towards Newtownstewart arriving at Kirroughtree around 10:15 am. The weather was pleasant, sunny with a cold wind, but it seems that most riders were in shorts and some in short sleeved shirts!

The nineteen riders took part in 10 categories with the first races starting at 11 am. First away were the Male Juniors with XMTB's William Boyd amongst the 9 starters doing four laps of the 8km course. Next up were the Male Youths with Banbridge's Matthew Adair competing against 19 other riders for 2 laps of the course. After the Male Juvenile race got away it was the turn of the Male Vets which had 41 entries including four local star riders, Robbie Lamont (XMTB McConvey Cycles), William Mulligan, Paul Anderson and Maurice Mayne (Banbridge CC). Also in this starting group were the Grand Vets with Banbridge's William Forsythe our only representative. The vets also had to complete four laps of the 8km course.

Next to start was a bunch of female riders incorporating categories Female Expert/Elite, Juveniles, Vets, Sports, Masters. Amongst these were Julie Watt racing in the Female Sports race and Rachal Mayne racing against five others in the Female Juvenile race. One minute behind them came the remaining female riders and the fun riders. Nicola Oldham (Banbridge), Joanne Callum and Gilliam Armstrong entered the two lap Female Open category event.

First to complete a lap was Matthew Adair going well despite some mechanical issues, followed by William Boyd. Behind them came the big battle of the day between William Mulligan and Robbie Lamont. William lead Robbie for the first lap but Robbie was the stronger and closed William down and finally passed him on the last lap to finish in third position with William finishing less than a minute behind in fourth place. Controversially Robbie's sensor, which was attached to the stem of his bike, was not getting picked up and the announcer had declared William as third before Robbie had to intervene to set the record straight. Paul Anderson finished 20th out of a total of 34 to complete the course. William Forsythe finished a respectable 7th out of 15 in the Grand Vets race. Matthew Adair came 8th, William Boyd finished 5th out of 9, Julie Watt finished 4th, Nicola Oldham finished 5th two places ahead of Joanne Callum. Rachael Mayne finished 6th.

In the afternoon it was time for race 2. First away were the Expert/Elites with Aiden McDonald and Graham Boyd competing against 22 others over 6 laps. Behind them came the 5 lap Masters event and out of the 35 lined up there was Liam McKiverigan (Banbridge) and Phil O'Neill (Dromara). Completing the events at this time were the Male Sports riders who had four laps to complete. Among the 28 lined up were old rivals Stephen Prentice (Banbridge) and Martin Grimley (Dromara).

Graham Boyd was only able to complete 3 out of his 6 lap race before cramping up, Aiden McDonald had a great ride to finish in 7th place. In the Masters event, Phil O'Neill had to drop out after completing four out of the five laps but Liam McKiverigan finished 12th out of 24 finishers and even finished off with a superb sprint finish for the line. In the Sports race both Martin and Stephen struggled to complete the distance, which was somewhat greater than either was accostumed to back home, but they went on to finish in 18th and 20th position respectively. Stephen even got mentioned for the 'most comical fall' after losing control of his bicycle on the finishing straight when he tried to put both his arms in the air. Hard luck Stevie.

Despite some very tired legs and eyes, it was a great trip and an enjoyable change of scenery. Many thanks to "The Break Pad" for organising the event. We were made to feel very welcome and were even offered cheap accommodation rates if we went to any of the other rounds in the SXC series.

Report and pictures by Martin Grimley
Pictures by Paul Anderson here