Cyclists head to the coast for Alzheimers
Almost 300 cyclists turned out for Dromara Cycling Club’s annual “Coastal” leisure cycle on Sunday 14th May 2017. The event has become an established early summer favourite for local cyclists of all abilities, but as in previous years the weather played its part. In the run-up to the event, forecasts of showery weather kept pre-entries lower than usual. However a last minute change in the forecast showed wall-to-wall sunshine for the morning, bringing the late deciders out of the woodwork for a flurry of on-the day entries.
The club members has been preparing for the event for several weeks in advance, with a team of helpers out marking the roads to ensure the riders knew where to go. Sign-on went smoothly, with the first 250 entrants receiving a drinks bottle stuffed with nutrition products and a voucher, courtesy of Chain Reaction Cycles Boucher Road store. With the support of 8 motorbike outriders the mass roll out at 9.30am from from Dromara Village Football club went without a problem.
The first half of the route takes in a scenic loop around the South Down coast to Strangford, and this year the riders were blessed not only with blue skies and bright sunshine but also with a helping tailwind on their way to the coast. The first tranche of riders arrived in Inverbrena Community hall for the food stop in record time, and all were treated to a generous spread of food & drinks on their arrival. This year the event was raising money for Alzheimer’s Society, and 4 of the charity’s volunteers were on hand as part of a 12 person team to run the lunch stop. Sandwiches were provided by Me2you sandwiches of Warrenpoint, and bananas and apples were supplied by Harry’s Store in Kinallen.
After leaving Strangford, just outside Quoile riders were able to decide which route to take back. Either they could continue enjoying the coastal scenery and go the longer 80 mile route as far as Killinchy and Saintfield, or take the more direct 60 mile route back to Dromara via Ballynahinch. This year we had record numbers of participants tackling the longer route, with many using the event as part of their training for the Gran Fondo in June. The weather proved a little less helpful on the return section of the route, with a few heavy showers to contend with, plus that inevitable headwind as pay-back for the earlier assistance.
The first riders arrived back in Dromara around 1.15pm, having completed the 60mile route in less than 4 hours including lunch stop, with the majority of riders finishing between 2pm and 3.30pm. At the finish, riders were once again offered tea & coffee plus a selection of food, whilst some elected to make use of the bar facilities for other forms of refreshment! Everyone who took part seemed to enjoy the event, and we were delighted to hear lots of positive comments at the finish.
The committee of Dromara CC would like to thank all the club members who helped to run the event, and of course all the cyclists who took part, helping to raise approximately £2000 for a very worthy cause. Special thanks to the volunteers from Alzheimer’s Society for their help at the lunch stop, Dromara Village FC for the use of their grounds and clubhouse for the start finish, Robert Fee for the use of his field for car parking, Inverbrena Community association for the use of their hall, Chain Reaction Cycles for providing the goody bottles and mechanical support before and during the event, and the motorcycle marshals led by Robert Lennon for their expert assistance.
