CX Round 2

The sun shone again at Lady Dixon Park bathing the beautiful gardens in warm autumn sunshine.  Bare legs and short sleeved jerseys were the order of the day for the riders who came along to take part in Round 2 of the Ulster Cyclo-cross series 2014.  Host club Phoenix CC had been on site from first light setting out the course, setting up gazebos and getting ready for the tidal wave of entries, breaking all previous records.  The club wish to thanks Belfast City Council for their support of the race and to the on site park wardens for their help.  There were a few changes to the course set up with the youth races (for the Under 6s up to the Under 12s) now located in a section of the park close to the house.

This grass area had been marked out so that it increased in length as the race categories moved up.  For the senior race, the course had been modified in parts to run in reverse of last year as well as taking in new sections of the park.  The plank jumps were located on a bank behind the finish line, the steps (with sand) were located close to where 'carnage corner' was last year.  The course made great use of the grass areas of the park switching back and forward to take in the slope of the hill.

Racing got underway as usual with the Under 6s which saw 34 young riders eager to go.  Course designer John Bogues went off in front of the riders as they did 2 laps of the short circuit.  Carn Wheelers started the day on the podium with Patrick Elliott taking 3rd.  Eimer Skelly was next in the under 10's, the young lady had a great race posting consistent lap times missing out on a podium spot by a few seconds.  In the under 10 boys race the Russell boys were back in action again, Frank and Tom were in the thick of the action again this week!  The lads completed all 6 laps in a hotly contested race where 1st to 6th was separated by less than 30seconds!  The young Carn racers did themselves proud improving on last weeks result finishing in 5 and 6 consecutively.

Sarah Elder made it two in a row as she comfortably won for the 2nd week in a row in the girls under14 race, finishing 3laps of the full course in an impressive time of 32mins 05seconds!  In the under16 girls race it was another case of deja vu as Emma Elder and Niamh Skelly took silver and bronze again following on from their race last week at lurgan park, another great race for the Carn duo who are sure to improve and taste gold as the league continues.  

The underage racing concluded for the day, proceedings turned to senior racing.  The MTB support race saw Gareth Skelly, Sean Bradley and Stephen Mulholland take to the line for the green and black.  All three put in a fantastic effort and did themselves and the club proud, again Sean Bradley was denied a podium place by the narrowest of margins taking 4th place just 18seconds behind his rivals on the podium.  The author here is in no doubt that Sean will be in possession of a medal by Christmas and will be a real contender for the Championship race at the leagues close in December.  

Nigel Gibson was a lone warrior for Carn Wheelers in the B race, over the 6 laps Nigel consistently put in sub 9minute laps to finish the race under the hour mark well within a tightly placed field, a fantastic achievement.  The women's race started one minute in front of the men and for the first time entrants reached double figures with 11 on the start line.  Again Mairead McGurk was on the line to do battle over an increasingly rutted course against competition that included Northern Ireland commonwealth games competitor Claire Oakley.  Mairead put in a great race finishing strong in a field that saw 3 riders retire such was the high level of competition in this race.

In the 7 lap A race Carn Wheelers had Barry Russell, Johnny Taylor, Ryan Walsh, Joseph McCrory, Martin Bradley, Shane Elder, Marc Heaney and Jody Evans reporting to the line.  On an unusually sunny and mild Sunday in October the Carn men formed a field of 70riders who would do battle across the 130acre park in south Belfast.  Over the 7 laps all 8 men endeavoured tirelessly across the rolling meadows of the park in pursuit of victory.  Jody suffered a mechanical and was forced to retire on lap 5, a disappointment after being competitive on the opening stages of the race.   Marc Heaney was on strange footing, following a fantastic year on the road the grass and track of a cyclocross race proved a new challenge as he became acquainted with a tree during the race!   The rest of the riders all finished the race well, posting times below the hour mark.  Barry Russell was the best placed Carn man on the day taking 18th with a 53min 14second race time.

Many thanks to the hardworking volunteers from Phoenix CC for running an excellent event and putting on a great display of food including hot food from the BBQ.  The next round will be at Windmill Park in Dungannon on Sunday 19 October hosted by Island Wheelers.