Lady Dixon Park proves a mucky affair for the cyclocrossers
Phoenix Cycling Club hosted this weeks Cyclocross event at Lady Dixon Park. There has been quite a few pictures popping up on social media showing the hard work that went into preparing the course. The large sandpit apparently wasn’t for the children to play in so no need to bring my bucket and spade.
On the day the course proved very challenging especially when a downpour added to an already greasy surface. This would be no Lurgan Park I can tell you. This would be the first time that and all female cyclocross race would be held and with 27 ladies at the start line it proved to be a popular event.
The first races to go are always the youth races and DCC saw Max Melville in the under 16’s take 18th place with young Ben Wilson taking 3rd place on the podium for the under 14 race. Ben’s return from injury is moving in the right direction.
In the All Female Cyclocross race it was Lisa Millar who was the fastest DCC rider in 5th Place and very close to a podium. Jackie Wade made her first outing on a cross bike and with an excellent debut 18th place will hopefully trying some more CX races. Emma Johnson completed the DCC team in 26th place.
In the CX B Race Nathan Mullan was looking to better his 6th place from last week however Lurgan Park is quite a different course than Lady Dixon Park – add to that a bit of mud and he didnt look as happy as he was last week. Taking 11th place I am sure he will be looking to put that right next week. The B Race rider of the day went to Davy Broome who made every effort not to get those shorts dirty.
Davy B made the mucky conditions look easy as he took 6th place on the day. John Shanks managed to make it around this course without breaking any wheels and picking up an excellent 16th place. Brian Wilson is never happier than when it is wet and mucky and proved his technical skills are still as good as ever with a 24th place finish. Mikr Barton took 38th, Graham Beckett finished 51st and Stephen Nugent finished 65th.
After the rain had stopped it was time for the CX A Race and with course badly cut up it was going to be interesting to see who could cope with the course change. Naturally it was Peter Davidson who was one of the very few that was able to ride up the steps as we can see here – skillz
This didn’t help him catch the evergreen Barry Kellett who was in fine form and fought all the way to the finish line to take a well deserved 7th place.
Young Peter Davidson was 3rd Junior and finished in 31st overall which is impressive going. Zak Hanna took 37th with Richard Cowan completing the DCC team in 48th place.
Its all about the technique
Finally we need to pass on our thanks to all the helpers, Marshals & organisers who put on a superb race at Lady Dixon. DCC riders were very impressed at the professional setup and certainly made for a very enjoyable day.
