www.ulsterxc.com
Dunmore Mountain
26 June 2010
www.ulsterxc.com | Fourth round of the Ulster XC Series 2010 Dunmore Mountain 26 June 2010 | |
| Saturday 26 June 2010 Dunmore Mountain, Spa, Ballynahinch On Saturday 26 June 2010 Dromara Cycling Club hosted the Fourth Round of the UlsterXC Mountainbike Series at Dunmore Mountain which lies just beyond Spa Lake outside of Ballynahinch. This event was also Round 6 of the Irish National Points Series which attracted a large crowd from across Ireland to the venue which held the All Ireland National Championships in July 2009. The course was very similar to last year with the start / finish area in the main field, a loop set up around the main field and the majority of the circuit out through the bottom gate and into the main bulk of the mountain. The club had made full use of the two peaks with a short, quick climb up and over the first one, a large section of open terrain with a combination of grassy sections, rocky areas and a new bridge over a perpetual "soft" area, before the riders had to face the 5 climbs to reach the top of the main peak. The climbs had been named with the names shown at the approach to each on a display board, "The introduction", "The Riddler", "Torment", "Switchback" before the final climb up "Mulligan's Hill" where the landscape opened up and there were some great views of Slieve Croob and the Mourne Mountains. The technical descents were still there from last time along with some nice sweeping sections of track before returning to the main field. The weather had been favourable all day with warm sunshine mixed in with some windy conditions but no rain thankfully. Red Bull had come along with their arch, wigwam and reps giving out samples. Riders started signing on from 9:30 with a total attendance of 148 riders many of whom were first timers to the venue. The first races of the day were for the Under 8s and Under 10s who had a new course which made a short loop out of the start / finish area and around the hill on the right. The organisers had added in a ramp which the young riders seemed to have enjoyed. There was a lower than normal turn out of the Under 8s but it was still great to see 15 lined up for their 3 laps of the course and they certainly didn't take long getting around. Cathir Doyle (Carn Wheelers) was able to put in lots of practice at Davagh Forest which helped him win there but showed his real promise at Dunmore by repeated his win. Behind him was Ben Wilson who improved on his 4th position at Lady Dixon to take second ahead of the current UlsterXC Under 8 leader Jack Baird (Banbridge CC). Having his best result so far this year was Fraser Harrower (Dromara CC) who finished fourth ahead of another Banbridge rider Christopher Curry with Ryan Stewart (Phoenix CC) in 6th. Missing from the top 6 was another Phoenix rider Shea O'Kane who took a nasty tumble just before the line on the second lap but managed to dust himself off to bravely cycle on. There were 10 riders in the Under 10s race and they had to complete 6 laps of the same course. These 10 were flying around the dry grassy course at such speeds that it put the timekeepers under pressure which unfortunately lead to some errors in the timekeeping. Top 3 were confirmed as Mark Buller (Banbridge CC), Kristof Rael (Boyne MTB) and Drew Armstrong (Dromara CC). Next up were the Under 12s who, like last year, had to complete 3 laps of the loop within the main field. The 10 Under 12s took off at a blistering pace down the hill towards the bottom gate before turning sharply left and up and over 3 draggy hills before getting back to the start / finish line. John Buller (Banbridge CC) made it 4 wins out of 4 finishing just ahead of Jamie Grifferty (Boyne MTB) and Richard Baird (Banbridge). Connor Mallon (Dromara CC) was 4th with Jack Mooney (Boyne MTB) finishing 5th. At noon the next set of races started with six Under 16s lining up first for their 3 laps of the main course. Stuart Ballantine (XMTB McConvey Cycles), who was without his fellow club mate Kyle McEwan to battle with, took the win comfortably ahead of Robert Deegan (Epic MTB) with host club's Zak Hanna taking third. Setting off 1 minute after the Under 16s were the Sports riders made up of 23 male and 4 female riders. The men had 3 laps to complete and the women 2. Bob Talbot (Harps CC) improved on his second place at Davagh Forest by taking the win in the Sports (men) race. Second was Cathal Doyle (Carn Wheelers) who was first at Magheramorne in May this year. Third was Stephen Kelleher (Cuchulainn CC) who finished one minute ahead of host club's Gavin Magowan with David Blevins (Harps CC) fifth and Brendan Kirk (Ards CC) in sixth place. In the women's race it was Agata Tamulewicz (MAD Mtb) who took the win ahead of Wendy Barry (DTC Orwell Wheelers) with current UlsteXC league leader Gill Smith not on form finishing third ahead of ever improving Dianne Keys. Setting off one minute behind the Sports riders were the Under 14s with a field of 9 riders who faced 3 laps of the "One Peak" course, a shortened version of the main course. Conor Lavelle (MAD mtb) improved on his second place at Magheramorne by beating James Curry (Banbridge CC) who in turn finished ahead of two Boyne MTB riders, Cormac Everord and Conor Kavanagh. After the noon races the prize giving for the Under 8s through Sports took place with the youth categories getting medals sponsored by Belfast cycle shop Bikedock. All the under 8s, 10s and 12s then also got medals for taking part which hopefully will attract them back for more off-road racing. After the prize giving the main racing of the day took place with the Elite Men setting off first. Eight Elite riders had lined up for, what they insisted on, 7 laps of the full course. They were followed by a combined race of 3 Elite Women and 3 Junior riders who both had 5 laps to complete. Next away were the 17 vets who had pushed forward and jumped the queue to start their four laps. This forced the 12 Experts to set off afterwards with the final group of 28 Masters last away, both groups having 5 laps to complete. In the Elite Men's race there was a great early battle between Joe McCall (Focus MTB) and Peter Buggle (Rocky Mountain) with mere seconds between them until the 5th lap when Peter had a mechanical problem which dropped him back into third place behind James McCluskey (IMBRC) and ahead of Colm Mullen (Team WORC). The Elite Women's race saw Mel Spath (MAD Mtb) lead the race from start to finish ahead of Cait Elliott (UCD) with the host club's Val O'Neill third. There were no surprises in the Junior race with Matthew Adair (Banbridge CC) taking another win ahead of Robert Scanlon (Team WORC) with William Boyd (XMTB McConvey Cycles) in third. In the Expert's race it was a great win for Tomasz Michalski (XMTB McConvey Cycles) who didn't hid his joy on crossing the line in first place. He was closely followed by Sean Downey (MAD Mtb) and Matt Slattery (Killarney Cycling Club). Niall Clarke (Cuchulainn CC) was 4th with Shaun Stewart (Four Masters CC) 5th and Maciej "Max" Staroniewicz (Epic MTB) 6th. In the Masters race it was a popular win for Adam Wojnar (Epic MTB) who finished over 1 minute ahead of Andrew Newman (Team WORC) with Oisin Boydell and Richard Close (both from MAD Mtb) finishing 3rd and 4th respectively. Damien Mulchrone (Epic MTB) was 5th ahead of Peter O'Farrell and Mark McGauley (MAD Mtb) with the first Ulster rider, JJ Conway (Harps CC), in 8th place. In the four lap Veterans race it was Vinnie Fitzsimons (Team WORC) who took the win ahead of William Mulligan (Banbridge CC) who was without his main rivals Paul McMenamin and Robbie Lamont. In third place was Declan McCabe (Cuchulainn CC) with John Bogues (Phoenix CC) finishing a very creditable 4th. Paddy Mackey (Sorrento-Audax CC) was 5th with Michael Dardis (Epic MTB) in 6th place. Many thanks to all the members of Dromara Cycling Club for all their hard work in setting up and running this event. The club wish to thank the landowners, the Whiteman family, for their continued support and use of the land. The seventh and last round of the Irish NPS series takes place on Sunday 4 July at 3 Rock Co. Wicklow (see www.irishxcmtb.com for more details). The next round of the UlsterXC series will take place on Sunday 1 August 2010 at the excellent Castlewellen Forest Park. For more details see www.ulsterxc.com Full results here Commissaire(s): Ronnie Ogilby, Raymond Beers Report by Martin Grimley Photos by Gavin Magowen, Owen McManus, Vanessa Grimley |        |
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 Under 8s |  Under 10s |
 Under 12s |  Under 14s |
 Under 16s |  Women |
 Sports |  Experts |
 Masters |  Juniors |
 Vets |  Elite Women |
 Elite Men |