DCC fill podiums at Ulster XC Rnd 1 while Magowan & Smyth hold their own at TOA
It is clear that Spring has clearly Sprung with the rain clearing and the Sun peaking through the clouds. For those confused the bright yellow ball in the sky is the sun and hopefully will bring joy and happiness to all cyclists.
This weekend saw the Tour of Ards take place on Saturday and Dromara had Gavin Magowan and Ronnie Smyth as their representatives in this very prestigious race. The race started on the portaferry road after a neutral roll though the town. This year the race had been closed to just 80 riders and the pace was in excess of 26mph average whch is slightly faster than the Saturday B run. In the end a group broke away and Roger Aiken took the victory with both Gavin and Ronnie finishing in the bunch. Great riding lads and always great to see the Dromara colours in such a prestigious race.
On Sunday the Ulster XC Rnd 1 began at Craigavon with plenty of Dromara CC interest. Apollo CC were running this event and created a great course to test out all that winter training that everyone has been secretly doing. First up was Alex Harrower in the under 10’s who produced an excellent ride in tough conditions taking 13th place. Next up was Ben Wilson and Fraser Harrower in the Under 14 boys which is becoming a very competitive category – Fraser Harrower produced a brilliant top 10 result with Ben getting 2nd place on the podium. In the under 16 category Max Melville had a real battle to secure his 7th place.
Great going Junior DCC riders – getting better and better. Looking forward to reporting on all your podiums soon.
In the S4 race I was delighted to get my first MTB win with Paul Hamilton producing a brilliant ride to take third.Derek Miniss had no luck at all with the mtb giving mechanical problem but he still finished in 22nd. Looks like the prize for this is an upgrade to S3. In the S3 race Davy Broome was telling anyone who would listen that this wasn’t his course…looking forward to see what he can do on a course that does suit him as he takes 2nd place but didn’t get any daffodils
Davy on his way to 2nd S3
Brian Wilson managed to get hold of some bigger wheels and put them to good use with a fantastic 8th place. Adi Booth, Gibson Chambers & Robert Davison battled it out to take 15th, 18th and 20th. The good news for Davy B is the upgrade to S2. All in all a great day out a first class organisation from Apollo CC.
The secret training award of the week goes to Robert Davison with his secret off-road duathlon at Darragh. His report is below:
The rescheduled Davagh Duathlon took place on Saturday following cancellation in December due to Winter storms. A small group of competitors turned up early on Saturday morning to Davagh Forest near Cookstown to tackle the 2-10-2 course (2 mile forest track run, 10 mile mtb trails, 2 mile forest track run).
Robert was the sole Dromara representative on the start line. The competitors, after a short briefing, set off on the first leg of the duathlon, a one mile climb on part tarmac, part gravel track. A quick turn at the top and back down for another mile to the transition on to the mountain bikes.
Robert was in the middle of the pack following the first run and, after a quick shoe change headed for the start of the mtb challenge. This section of the race took in the mtb trails around Davagh forest. After Robert recovered from the run and got into a rhythm on the bike he began to pick off people one by one, managing to finish the mtb section in 2nd place. Robert was caught on the transition by the next rider as he did not need to change shoes and was able to get ahead of me for the final run. Robert pushed hard but was unable to catch him and managed to take third place overall.
Robert was over the moon with the result. This was a very enjoyable event and hopefully there will be more like it in the future. Well done to Davagh Forest for all the hard work and excellent organisation they put in to running this event.
