Another mud fest at Craigavon for round 6 of the ulster cyclocross league

The cyclocross weather has well and truly set in with yet another mud fest at the latest round of the ulster league at Craigavon but despite the weather the racers are still turning out in big numbers every week.This weeks course was based at the watersport centre in Craigavon making great use of the hilly terrain beside the lake . The kids races took place in their own course away from the main course meaning the senior riders could practice while the kids raced .This week Callum Lockhart and Jay Gibson were the first starters for Carn Wheelers with both lads having a great race,the next rider of was Riley Gibson who has been knocking on the door for a podium finish the last few rounds but this week he made the podium with a super race and a great 3rd place finish the first of many i'm sure .The under 10's were next of with Rhys Lockhart having a great race and Eimer Skelly also doing really well in the girls race with a 5th place finish the last race on the kids course was the under12's with Travis Harkness and Curtis Neill taking part both riders continued on  in their rich vein of form this season with Travis coming 4th and Curtis in 5th.

Racing then moved onto the main course with the mens mtb support race and the under 14 and under 16 racing at the same time this was a really tough course with 4 or 5 muddy climbs which because of conditions meant a lot of running there were no boys in the u14 and u16 races today but the girls kept the flag flying for Carn, in the under 14 girls race the ever improving Katie Neill just missed out on 1st place in a sprint finish but bagged a great 2nd Sarah Elder was next Carn girl home in 4th with Darcey Harkness in 7th .We had 2 girls in the under 16 race Anna Russell and Emma Elder both girls were involved in a great race over 4 hard laps of a deteriorating course with Emma just Pipping Anna for 3rd place . There was mixed fortunes in the mens mtb support race with Darryl Mullan having mechanical trouble resulting in a retirement but on a better note Dean Lockhart had a superb race to finish 3rd.

In the cyclocross B race we had 3 riders Gareth Skelly ,Nigel Gibson and Rodney Young and running alongside the B race was the womens race with Mairead McCrory taking part.In the B race  the 3 men all had really strong races with all 3 finishing well  with Nigel best placed in 21st place just to show how tough the conditions were now getting there were 16 DNF'S IN THE B race ,in the womens race Mairead had a stormer and came home in a brilliant 5th place after missing the early part of the season Mairead is showing a return to form with the ulster champs are just around the corner .

As always the final race of the day was the A race with Barry Russell,Shane Elder,Stephen Walsh, Joe McCrory and Johnny Taylor all taking there spot at the start line.Course condition could now be described as atrocious at best with some really nasty muddy hills being impossible to cycle resulting in a lot of running which really drained the power from the legs but to the riders credit they all battled manfully through conditions to finish as best as they could there was an excellent 7th  place finish for the steadily improving Stephen Walsh ,Joe came home in 16th with Johnny in 18th Barry was just outside the top 20 while Shane had a day to forget in 38th .

As always all  riders did the club proud with their efforts and some excellent results and performances on the day,a special thanks must go to Dromara cc for hosting such an excellent race on one of the toughest courses to be held in ulster in the past few years .