Dromara CC take medals home from Ulster Cyclo-Cross Championships

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Finally the Cyclo-cross season is coming to its climax as the national champs take place. The Ulster Championships has been in search of a new venue after Dromara CC stepped up to run the Irish National Champs which will be held at Tollymore on the 8th January. With time short thankfully Kinning Cycles stepped up and organised a new course at Mallusk Playing Fields. A tremendous amount of work went into putting the race on so many thanks from all at Dromara CC.

With no junior races the first race of the day saw the U14’s, U16’s and the Ladies tackle this new course with plenty of steps and even a large sandpit to navigate. Dromara’s representative was the mighty Diane Wilson who has been finding her form week after week on the cyclocross bike. The ladies race had plenty of talent making it yet again a super competitive race. Diane always seems to get quicker every lap and that didn’t change as she worked her way through the crowd to take a brilliant Silver medal.

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The next race of the day was the M40’s and M50’s which saw quite a few Dromara men put their wheel on the start line. Its hard to believe but there are actually Dromara Men in the club older than 40 although everytime I have asked they all tell me they are 21 and just waiting to hit their peak. In the M40’s we had Richard Cowan, Brian Wilson, John Shanks and in the M50’s we had Derek Graham, Robert Davison and John McGuigan. The M40’s and M50’s started at a blistering pace and the sand pit didn’t seem to slow anyone down. Richard Cowan managed to start well and battle into the top 10, Brian Wilson who has been in great form after his podium at the B race took a great 17th and John Shanks battled through to take 28th to complete the team. In the M50’s Derek Graham showed he has built on his form all season with an exceptional ride to take a 6th place, Robert Davison was told to ride around and not break the bike in case Peter Davison needed it at the elite race. Thankfully he made it through the race with the bike in one piece and took an excellent 12th place with John McGuigan still on the comeback trail taking 17th place.

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The final race of the day is the Elite race which saw Barry Kellett, Davy Broome, Graham Smyth and Peter Davison take to the start line. In the background John Shanks took over as Pit Boss for the day organising the high pressure hose and water with several other DCC members in place ready for the bike change handover. Rumours that Ben Wilson was in fact the Pit Boss for the M40/M50 race are unconfirmed but from someone who changed bikes I can tell you it was a slick operation. In the Elite race there is an Ulster Champs Team prize and several teams were available to try and snatch this one.

When the start whistle went Barry Kellett managed to miss his first holeshot of the season but managed to tuck n behind Roger Aikens wheel for the first lap. Graham Smyth and Davy Broome had managed to get into a small group as they pushed on with Peter Davison agonisingly just off the back of this group. Barry Kellett has been pretty lucky with mechanicals this year but every now again it bites you at the wrong time. The sandpit seemed to do the damage and the gap was lost on third place Graham Boyd and never seemed to change as Barry dug deep battling for 4th place. A final bit of quality cornering and a decent sprint meant he secured 4th. Behind him the team race was hotting up and looked comfortable until Davy Broome broke his derailleur and having to run to the pits for the next bike and finish in 19th place. This meant Peter Davison needed to dig deep and battle his way back to Graham Smyth. With probably both riders producing their best performance this season to take 14th and 15th place but more importantly be crowned Ulster CX Team Champions 2017.

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All in all it was a fabulous day out and many thanks go to Kinning Cycles Team, Martin Grimley and Lisa Millar for making it happen. The volunteers who set up the course and marshalled the races most definitely need a pat on the back. Many thanks to the Belgium Project for allowing us to use their photos. Finally and a nice place to finish the report is our donation to the Belgium Project. Dromara CC have always looked to invest in youth and the Belgium Project give the opportunity for talented riders to travel to Belgium to race at a new level in the hope that they can use it as a springboard to the pro leagues. Nathan Mullan took the opportunity this year to test himself and came back delighted to have tested himself and gave a raving review on the hospitality he received. It is because of this Dromara CC presented Dany Blondeel with a cheque of £200 to help keep the project moving forward.

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