CX Round 6 - Seacourt, Larne

Round 6 of the CX series saw the Carn Wheelers travel to northeast Antrim, where the harbour town of Larne was the destination for another day of mud and sweat in Seacourt hosted by Team Madigan.  Seacourt can be found up on a hill above the port of Larne overlooking Belfast Lough, the surrounding grass area is utilized by Team Madigan to make a great CX race course.  This being the fourth year in a row Seacourt has been on the calendar and at a critical stage in the league, previous experience would be a key factor.

Eimer Skelly was first up in the under10 female race, again in the thick of the action she was denied a podium spot by only 40seconds over a tough 2lap race.  In the under12’s Amber Young came close to taking another podium for the club, finishing 4^thjust 30seconds down on her nearest rival.  In the male race Ryan Skelly again took fourth for the 2^ndweek in a row, the young racer is showing fine form and will no doubt be on the podium again!  In the under14’s race his older brother Niall also continued to impress, completing four laps of the full course in just over half an hour to take home fifth.  In the girls race Sarah Elder was locked in a duel with Ellie Kelso from East Tyrone.  Over the four laps the girls traded places with Sarah only just being denied gold come the chequered flag.

The under 16 female race saw the usual battle between Emma Elder and Niamh Skelly from Carn Wheelers and Molly M^CLarnon from North Down CC.  The race was a great spectacle as usual, Molly was forced to retire early after feeling unwell during lap 2.  Emma and Niamh raced on to finish 1^st and 2^nd consecutively.  In the MTB support race the club had Sean Bradley in flying form again, the young Glenullin man made it two in a row taking another well-deserved victory.  Holding 2^nd place for the initial stages of the race, during lap 5 he made his move into pole and held on to the finish line.

Cyclo-cross action was next on the agenda.  The B race had as usual Carl McWilliams and Nigel Gibson lining out in the green and black, Stephen Halferty joined them this week after his acquisition of a CX bike.  Unfortunately Carl’s day was prematurely ended when a mechanical forced a retirement on lap 3.  Nigel and Stephen but in a great race completing the full 7 laps of a challenging course under the hour mark.  The ladies also took on 7laps and Mairead McGurk was as usual in action for the green and black.  Mairead also just missed out on a podium spot with a 4^th place finish, her dedication to the league however sees her in 2^nd overall behind commonwealth star Claire Oakley.

In the A race the usual suspects were part of a familiar line up for the Carn Wheelers.  Johnny Taylor, Barry Russell, Martin Bradley, Shane Elder and Joe McCrory were all on hand to tackle 8 laps of an increasingly cut up course.  The boys as usual completed the race in fine form despite the tricky course, Johnny repeated last week’s performance coming home again in 14^th with Barry Russell crossing the line just outside the top 20 in 21^st. 

After the race all competitors made use of the shower and changing facilities at Seacourt with refreshments served up by the Team Madigan volunteers.  Thanks go to all at Team Madigan for putting on another great race.  Round 7 will bring the CX extravaganza back to Belfast as Xmtb McConvey Cycles host the popular Ormeau Park race on Sunday the 16^th, see you there!