Ulster XC 2010 - Round 1

www.ulsterxc.com

First round of the Ulster XC Series 2010
Lady Dixon Park
9 May 2010

Sunday 9 May 2010
Lady Dixon Park, Belfast

Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park in Belfast was the venue of the first round of the Ulster Cross Country Mountain Bike Series and also doubled up as the third round of the Irish XC MTB National Point Series. This helped to attract a big field of 222 riders from 34 clubs across Ireland to the venue which was first used in 2009. The host club was XMTB McConvey Cycles who have established a great working relationship with Belfast City Council to promote mountain bike racing events in the city's parks. The set up was very similar to last year with ample car parking facilities and lots of pedestrian barriers to separate riders from spectators. Red Tag timing were also present again this year with the addition of a gantry and race timing clock. This allowed for accurate race timing on all senior and some of the youth races through a 'chip' system. On the mic, and the official commissaire for the day, was Ritchie Bryne (Epic MTB) who added to the great atmosphere and provided well informed commentary on the racing throughout the day. The senior course was approximately 3 miles long staying mostly in among the trees with only some short sections out onto the meadow. The host club had also designed a circuit for the Under 8s & 10s and another for the under 12s. The course had benefitted from an extended period of dry weather which had made the 'going' very fast with only the odd muddy section to contend with. The weather on the day was also dry but much cooler than last year which many will remember as a scorcher.

Racing got underway at 11 am with the Under 8s who had to complete 2 laps of the mini course. It was testimony to the great work that XMTB McConvey cycles and other clubs had done earlier in the year with their youth races that this event attracted 27 riders to this category. Banbridge Cycling Club have always had a strong presence in the youth categories and it was 3 of their young riders who the top 3 spots with Jack Baird taking the win ahead of Chris Curry and James Buller. Taking 4th spot was Ben Wilson, with Shea O'Kane (Phoenix CC) taking 5th and Fraser Harrower (Dromara CC) finishing 6th.

Once the Under 8s were finished the small field of seven Under 10s lined up for four laps of the mini course. It was another Banbridge rider, Mark Buller who took the win ahead of Drew Armstrong (Dromara CC), with Craig McCarthy (Castlereagh CC) taking third and Sam McCluskey (Team Madigan) taking fourth.

Next up were the Under 12s who had three laps of a short circuit. Nine riders lined up for this race and again the Banbridge club were dominant with John Buller taking the win just 13 seconds ahead of club mate Richard Baird. The host club's Greg Bell was third while Shannon Buller, also from the Banbridge club taking fourth. The host club's Joel Smyth and Calum Nairn took 5th and 6th respectively.

At 12 noon the next three sets of riders lined up. On the front row were twelve Under 16s, of whom seven were from the host club and they had to complete 3 laps of the senior course. Behind them were the Sports Men (33 riders) who also had to complete three laps. After a sustained push to attract women into the sport of mountain biking those involved were rewarded with 11 entires in the Sports Womens race, a category that traditionally struggled to get half that number. Behind the Sports riders were nine Under 14s who had to complete 2 laps of the senior course. The three sets were separated by one minute gaps and the racing was fast and furious along the hard packed trails among the trees.

The host club, XMTB McConvey cycles, had two riders top the Under 16s race, Kyle McEwan took the win ahead of Stuart Ballantine, with Robert Deegan (Epic MTB) taking third and Claire Oakley, also from the host club, taking fourth. Christopher McGlinchey (Chain Reaction Cycles) was 5th just 3 seconds ahead of host club's Martin McGauley.

The Sports Men's race saw Andras Gercsenyi (Thinkbike.ie) lead from start to finish with Barry Russell (Carn Wheelers) holding the second position for the duration of the race. Geoff Brown (Dromara CC) progressed from 5th, through 4th before finishing in 3rd place, having not raced cross-country in over 15 years. Alan Carolan (Epic MTB) was 4th followed by Gary Shields (Cuchulainn CC) in 5th. A great result for Stephen Prentice (Banbridge CC) to finish 6th, showing that the training he has been doing has paid off. He managed to stay ahead of Simon Stockton (Team Madigan) who is more accustomed to setting very fast times at the road time trial series. Ronnie Ogilby (XMTB McConvey Cycles) finished 8th despite his warm up on the turbo trainer, and certainly added his name to the list of riders who are ready for promotion out of the Sport category. Behind Ronnie were two riders from Carn Wheelers, David Crooks and Barry Young who, together with Barry Russell, were doing their 'best practice' research at this event as their club will be running the third round of the Ulster XC series from Davagh Forest next month.

In the Sport Women's race it was recent returner Gill Smith, who competed regularly over 10 years ago, who took the win in a close battle with Agata Tamulewicz (MAD Mtb) and Julie Rea (Chain Reaction Cycles) who was also third in the 2009 race. Julie McCorry (Dromara CC), one of the four Bikedock Belles was fourth, with Rose Griffin (IMBRC) 5th ahead of Wendy Barry (DTC Orwell Wheelers), who has attended a number of the XC races in Ulster this year.

In the Under 14s race it was another Banbridge CC win when James Curry crossed the win over 2 minutes ahead of Cian Mulligan (Epic MTB), with Marlene Drozdziok in 3rd, Conor Kavanagh (Boyne MTB) 4th and the host club's Alex Bell in 5th.

The club then held a prize giving ceremony for the youth races and Sports categories. The youth riders were presented with nice trophies and a cycling gift set from the event sponsor McConvey Cycles. The club then also gave out medals to all Under 8s, Under 10s and Under 12s which certainly will help to keep their interest in the sport.

At 1:45 it was the start of the senior races. First away were the seven Elite Men who had to complete eight laps. One minute later it was the turn of the Elite Women, Ciara MacManus and Val O'Neill (Dromara CC), along with four Junior riders (16-18 year olds) and they had six laps to complete. The Veterans (those aged 40 or over) then lined up for their five lap race and there was a great showing of 28 riders in this group with the favourites William Mulligan (Banbridge CC), Paul McMenamin (Leisure Lakes) and Robbie Lamont from the host club, on the front row. The Experts (18-30 year olds) had a smaller field of 17 riders for their six lap race. Finally it was the turn of the Masters (30-39 year olds) who also had six laps to complete. The Masters category seems to be the dominant one across all the XC races throughout Ireland and at this venue it was no different with 56 riders competing.

The Elite Men's race was dominated by Joe McCall (Focus MTB) who lead for all but the first lap with Richard Felle (Thinkbike.ie) second and Evan Ryan (Team WORC) in third, the top three finishing within five minutes of one another after 8 laps. Adam Kelly (Wicklow Triathlon CC) was 4th with Graham Boyd (XMTB McConvey Cycles) in 5th.

In the Elite Women's race Ciara MacManus, who is co-ordinating the Ulster XC Series, finished comfortably ahead of Val O'Neill (Dromara CC). In the Junior race it was another win for Matthew Adair (Banbridge CC), with Robert Scanlon (Team WORC) finishing strongly only 1 minute 20 seconds behind Matthew. Brendan Scullion (Western Lakes CC) was third with the host club's William Boyd in fourth.

In the Vets race it was the expected battle between Mulligan, McMenamin and Lamont. The three stayed together for the first 2 laps before Paul McMenamin (Leisure Lakes) put on a surge to open up the gap between himself and William Mulligan (Banbridge CC) who in turn opened up a gap on Robbie Lamont (XMTB McConvey Cycles) to finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. Behind these three there was another battle going on between the McCabe brothers (Cuchulainn CC) but on the line it was Jonny who beat Declan by the slim margin of 5 seconds. John Bogues (Phoenix CC) had entered Elite class at this event last year but felt more at home in the Vets category to finish 6th overall. Andrew Burns (Orchard Wheelers) was 7th with Brian Lawless 8th, Brian Stewart (Phoenix CC) 9th with event sponsor Eamon McConvey finishing an excellent 10th.

The Experts race saw Colm Mullen (Team WORC) take the win on the final lap just 12 seconds ahead of Matt Slattery (Killarney CC) with Sean Downey (Mad MTB) taking third. Tomasz Michalski from the host club was 4th with Tadhg Griffin (IMBRC) 5th and Jonny Beers (East Antrim) 6th.

Kevin Stanley (IMBRC) lead the Masters race from start to finish with Adam Wojnar (Epic MTB) chasing him the whole way. Andrew Newman (Team WORC) got into 3rd place on the 5th lap and held it to the end. It was representatives from southern clubs who took the top 12 positions in the Masters race with Oisin Boydell, Mark McGauley, Ritchie Close, Simon O'Connor and Gene Ryan all from Mad MTB, taking 4th, 6th, 9th, 11th and 12th respectively. Damien Mulchrone, Alfie Wallace and Daragh Mortimer all from Epic MTB finished 5th, 7th and 10th respectively with David O'Neill (Team WORC) finishing in 8th position. The first of the Ulster riders was Brian Steele (13th) and Phil O'Neill (14th), both from Dromara CC.

Racing finished around 4pm with many participants staying on to watch the prize giving. Many thanks to XMTB McConvey Cycles for all their hard work in setting up and running an excellent event. The next cross country MTB race will be held by Team Madigan at Magheramorne Quarry near Larne on Sunday 23 May 2010 and it will be Round 2 of the Ulster XC series and Round 4 of the Irish National Points Series. For more details see www.ulsterxc.com or www.irishxcmtb.com

Full results here

Report & photos by Martin Grimley