Sunday 24th August saw the Ulster MTB championships take place at Castlewellan hosted by Banbridge CC. This was a much anticipated course which combined parts of the trail centre with some great natural trails created by Banbridge CC. Two great features on the course were the bombhole a steep quick vertical drop not for the faint hearted and the two steep tight S bends further back up the course. There was a big turnout of spectators and photographers at both locations, all expecting to see a few spills, they were not to be disappointed.
With our most senior Elite MTB’er BVK out on paternity duty all race duties fell on the Dromara riders in all other categories to pull out the stops.
The masters race took off at a frightening pace from the start line as expected. A long climb up the grass, across the front of the castle then on up a few more hills to the first piece of single track provided a lung busting start and spread the riders well out. Next came the first piece of natural trail on the course. This was a brilliant technical section which was fairly greasy in places. I passed John Shanks who seemed to have a mechanical early on. Then down to the steep S bends, cleared them no problem the first time. A few more sections of natural single track led us down to the bombhole. A large crowd had accumulated at the bombhole, the chanting and bells sounded like an episode of Ski Sunday. Cleared the bombhill and on ahead to complete the first lap. There were several mishaps on the 2nd lap, my bike decided go straight ahead at the S bends and as a result two other riders landed on top of me, I hate getting my top all soiled! Picked myself up and away on ahead. John Shanks had by now passed me again but had a big off exiting the bombhole section, thankfully the only damage was to his front wheel, however it was enough to end his race. I raced on at a steady pace for the next two laps and finished 12th, happy enough with my days work.
In other races a brilliant result for Davy Broome on his first race outing finishing 7th in S4, reckon he is one to watch for the future. Gibson Chambers battled hard to finish 12th in S4 as did Emlyn Williamson who finished 26th.
In vets Brian Wilson finished 12th with Robert Davison finishing close behind in 13th. Unfortunately Paul Mawhirt and Peter Ritchie both had DNF’s, not sure what happened guys!
Our downhill man Peter Davison also finished 7th in under 16’s.
The Wilson family:
NPS champ Ben finished 3rd in under 12’s.
Kelly had a great 2nd place podium finish in under 14 females.
Big congrats to the only Dromara podium finishers on the day.
The Williamson family:
Danny finished 5th in under 12’s
Jamie finished 8th in under 10’s
Ryan narrowly missed out on a podium place finishing 4th in under 8’s
The Broome family:
Bradley finished 10th in under 10’s
Karter finished 11th in under 10’s
Lexie finished 11th in under 6’s
The Harrower family:
Fraser finished 8th in under 12’s.
Alex finished 7th in under 8’s.
Max Melville also finished 7th in under 14’s and Anthony Quinn finished 8th in under 10’s.
Well done to all Dromara CC riders. Hope I haven’t missed anyone!
Full results available at
www.j15ulsterxc.dromaracc.co.uk/Results/Ulster_MTB_XC_Championships_2014_Castlewellan.htmNext event is Ulster XC round 5 at Craigavon lakes, the final round of the year.
Aidy B(Assistant MTB race report secretary to BVK)
