| Chris wins at the Banbridge Crit | |
| 8 July 2012 Report by Zak Hanna The Outlet Shopping Centre outside Banbridge was the venue last Friday night for Banbridge Cycling Club to host their ever-popular evening of criterium racing around the new Tesco site. These races have been going on since 2010 with excellent crowds attending each year to watch keen racers hurtle around the pan-flat 1km circuit. Unfortunately this year attendance was down but that didn’t stop the ones that did turn up from putting on an excellent display of racing. Dromara Cycling Club had four riders competing in the races. Chris Magowan, Martin McAnulty and junior rider Zak Hanna competed in the A4 race, whilst Aaron McGrady competed in his first A3 race. Racing wasn’t based on distance but time, for example the A4s had to race for 15 minutes plus 3 laps. The evening started with a programme of Youth races. The A4 race got underway at 7:30pm with about 20 competitors lining up. The whistle blew and the peleton headed towards the first corner with Chris and Zak in the front pack going around the corner. Unfortunately Martin got caught behind a crash with one rider hitting the barriers on the other side of the corner. The race continued on with Chris driving the pace at the front of a bunch with about 10 riders in it with Zak just off the back. Martin raced hard to catch Zak with the two riding the remaining minutes and laps together. When the front pack was approaching the final corner Chris launched a final attack towards the finish which he kept up despite numerous attempts from the others to beat him. Chris crossed the line victorious for the 2nd time in 3 years. Zak crossed the line ahead of Martin after racing most of the race together. Many congratulations to Chris on his win which provided him with more race points which he needs to accumulate to move up to the A3 category. In Aaron’s race he lined up against a classy field of A3 riders and he had a tough session of racing ahead of him. He sat in the bunch for a good while until a group of riders broke away with Aaron unable to follow due to the high pace but he showed a great deal of determination to ride on by himself and finish the race. Maybe if there had been a mountain in the middle of circuit Aaron would have been the one breaking away from the pack. Congratulations to all riders who competed in these races. Unfortunately this is the last year for them at this site as Tesco will be building a new shop on the current race track. Many thanks to Banbridge Cycling Club for putting on an exciting night of racing and to the Outlet for the use of their facilities. |  |