Dromara Trail Quest League Round 2 [Daft Eddies]
On Sunday 15 November 2009, Dromara Cycling Club held the second in their series of popular Trail Quests raising funds for their chosen charity, the Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children. The headquarters for today's event was on the Strangford coast at Daft Eddies restaurant. Thirty-five teams from across the province had pre-registered to take part with additional teams signing up on the day. The participants gathered in the car park just a short distance from the restaurant and were greeted to a stunning sunrise over the picture postcard lough.
With almost perfect conditions for cycling the first of the teams set off at 10:31 am armed with a map of the area showing 29 marked locations, an answer sheet and a pencil. The task was to reach as many markers as possible within the allowed time. There was only one team with juniors at today's event, team "Castle Espie Crew" and they chose to complete the 2 hour event. All the other teams set off to complete the course in the allocated 3.5 hours. Route choice was the first test of the day with teams having to decide on heading north along the coast almost up to Comber or south towards Killyleagh. Many of the teams who did not know the area had expected the it to be relatively flat but they were in for a surprise when they met the undulating terrain around this coastal area. Unlike the previous round which had metal markers to find, the locations and questions for this round were very much based on a particular feature of that area, be it the number of posts on a quay, the words on a sign, date a school was built or make of a padlock etc. The 79 riders were lead on almost a tourist trail around this picturesque area and the clear blue skies and light wind really set off the landscape.
The nature of the course was such that almost all of it was road based and therefore teams spent a lot of time covering large distances on their mountain bikes. It wasn't all plain sailing with teams encountering large puddles, punctures, broken chains as well as taking the odd wrong direction. Team Bikedock Belles had a puncture but couldn't remove the tyre and ended up leaving one of their bikes in a hedge then doubling up on one bike to get back to the finish.
Team "Who the fox is that" made up of Paul McMinn, John Ruddell and David McCann, made all the right choices today achieving 370 out of a possible 460 points, missing just 6 of the 29 markers. They were 30 points ahead of their closest rival, "Average Joes" made up of solo, but well experienced orienteer, Paul McArthur. Third was another team of orienteers Jon Kay and Julie Murphy, team "The Maryland 2 rides again" with adventure racers Taryn McCoy and Paul Mahon, team "No frontiers" finishing fourth fifteen points ahead of last weeks winning team "Retro Grouch". Well done to all teams.
Once the answer sheets were handed in the participants were able to enjoy the hot soup and roll provided by the hardworking staff at Daft Eddies restaurant. The bar area was buzzing with the conversation from the teams sharing their experiences of the day. Many thanks to the staff in the restaurant for their hospitality.
A big thank you to Dennis, Alan and Stewart for setting up and running this round of the trail quest series. The teams were very impressed with the excellent weather that the guys organised as well.
The next round will take place on Sunday 6 December 2009 at Dolly's Brae in Ballyward. See website for details www.dromaracc.co.uk.
Photos and report by Martin Grimley
