On Sunday 11 August 2013 Dromara Cycling Club hosted their annual Mourne Sportive and Leisure Tours with the now well established four routes on offer to the leisure cyclist. The Mourne Sportive, with its 169 kilometres and 11,000 feet of climbing usually only attracts a small band of dedicated and hardened riders and this year seen 37 such individuals taking on the challenge. The riders were issued with a SportIdent timing device for their wrists which they used to record the time taken for the Sportive ride. The riders "dipped" the device into a timing station at the food stops which effectively stopped and then started the timing device thereby recording the length of time taken to cycle the route, less the time spent at the tea stops.
The most popular route, and now in its 21st year, is the "Hilly 125" or simply "The Hilly" which saw just over 170 riders take on the 125 kilometres around the hills of County Down. The route followed much of the Sportive but turned just before Cabra rather than head onto Mayobridge. The shorter routes of the Hilly 85 had 53 riders with the starter route, the Hilly 60, attracting 17 riders. The Hilly 85 followed the same course as the Sportive and Hilly 125 to the food stop at Leitrim. A support van had been provided by ChainReaction Cycles and the crew, Tony and Brendan, were kept busy aiding the riders on the road.
The Sportive riders were gathering from 7 am at Dromara Village Football Club with a mass start on a fine bright morning at 8 am from the gates. Once these riders had set off the participants for the other distances started to arrive filling up the car park and the nearby parking areas. It was a hectic scene inside the football club signing riders on but even a short downpour around 9 am did not put off the numbers coming along to sign up breaking all previous records for this event with 275 pedal pushers on the road. The mass of riders took off at 9:30 after a brief pre-event talk by club secretary Martin. The Hilly 125 and 85 riders headed up through the village and turned left towards Kinallen with the Hilly 60 riders heading straight up through the village to turn right heading towards Ballynahinch.
The Sportive, Hilly 125 and Hilly 85 riders were heading for the Magheraconluce Road to turn right onto the infamous Cornmill. The club had provided some comic warning signs at the foot of this steep hill and the experienced riders were shouting out to select the small ring on the bicycles. On the hill were a group of photographers ready to capture the mayhem that has traditionally happened here with riders pushing hard up the gradient with some coming to a standstill and falling into the grassy verge. This hill is not long, but it is very steep. Once over it the riders head on up at a more gradual pace climbing over Hill Road etc before winding their way over to the tough Dree Hill and then finally turning onto the challenging Windy Gap. Tough climbs indeed. Thankfully at the end of the Windy Gap the riders sail into Leitrim where the tea stop was organised in Leitrim GAA club which had the marquee up for the Leitrim festival which lasts for a week. Inside the riders were able to enjoy the food laid on and sit and relax and talk about their exploites so far. The food had been sponsored by local companies who had provided Freshways Sandwiches, Sunny D drinks, Pingui bars and Muller rice tubs and the club are indebted to them for their support.
Once the riders were fed they headed back onto the road again. The Hilly 85 and Hilly 60 riders shared the same route back to the football club with easier climbs whilst the Hilly 125 and Sportive riders headed for the Mourne mountains and up over Spelga. At the top of Spelga there was another water station and a timing station for the Sportive riders to "dip". The Sportive riders had a further tea stop at Meelmore before heading back up past Leitrim and then back onto the Windy Gap in reverse. With almost 98 miles done the Windy Gap was a real struggle for these riders.
When the riders returned to the football club they were greeted with cups of tea and coffee, as well as plates of cakes and biscuits. The bar was also open for those looking for some thirst killing drinks.
Many thanks to all the riders who came along to support the event. We do hope you enjoyed yourselves and hope to see you all again next year.
The club wish to thank:
- Dromara Village Football Club for the use of the facilties
- Leitrim GAA club
- Meelmore Lodge
- Team Vision Racing - organising the food sponsorship
- Muller - for their popular rice pots
- Kerry foods, for the excellent Freshways sandwiches
- PRM for the Sunny D and Pingui bars
- Tony and Brendan and to ChainReaction Cycles for their support in the van
- Eurospar in Dromara for storing the food
- Lagan Valley Orienteers for the loan of the SportIdent timing equipment for the Sportive riders.
- Sign on: Lisa Miller, Bernie & Aoife Monaghan, Graham Beckett
- Car park attendants: Phillip Wilson
- The 'route markers'
- Grimley family for setting up the tea stop at Leitrim
- Aoife & Bernie Monaghan, David Fisher and the Grimley family for manning the Leitrim tea stop
- Eddie Doyle for sorting out the Meelmore stop and the water stop at the top of Spelga.
- Aoife, Bernie (then Lisa) for their help back at the football club, feeding and giving out keyrings.
- Neill Currie for the keyrings and posters
- Andrew and Noel for the motorcycle outriders
Photos by Gavin here (Facebook)
