XCO NPS 2007 Round 1
Sunshine Start To League
The 2007 Irish Mountain Bike Cross Country National Points Series got underway on Sunday in brilliant sunshine at Glenarm Forest in County Antrim, attracting an entry of 112 riders. The race was also the opening round of the Ulster XC League. Promoted by East Antrim Audi, the course was superb, featuring a mixture of technical singletrack, fire roads and the infamous Glenarm climb.
One of the most dominant performances of the day was that of Banbridge CC rider Sean Downey, the 16 year old leading the Junior race, five laps, from start to finish and clearly not showing any weakness following a road race outing at Richill the previous day.
XMTB’s Graham Boyd at last had a troublefree outing to finish second, while Andy Hunter (Dave Kane/Northern) had his first MTB outing of the season to take third. Not one rider showed up for the Elite Mens race, in short totally pathetic, however the Elite Womens race saw Beth McCluskey (U/A) continue her unbeaten run in 2007.
Dubliner McCluskey took the win comfortabley ahead of fellow Dubliners Cait Elliot (UCD) and Mel Spath (MAD)
In the Experts race Dave Barry of IMBRC took his first ever win in the class. The race was a thriller between Barry and Team Worc’s Yvain Sugno, with French exile Sugno having to settle for second.
Following an impressive start to 2007 on the road racing scene, XMTB’s Tim Edgar had his first mtb outing of the year to finish a strong third.
Riding in the colours of the promoting club, Ben Morrow beat his brother Wayne for fourth place, the Morrow’s being natives of the village of Glenarm.
Dubliner Peter O’Farrell (U/A) fended off a determined challenge from Epic Club’s Damian Mulchrone to take victory in the Masters race, O’Farrell leading for all but one of the five laps. An all Southern podium was completed when Gordon Lucas (Team Worc) finished third, a position he held throughout the race.
Crossing the line in fourth was former motorcycle racer Maurice Ruddock, the Phoenix Club rider having his mtb racing debut.
However after breaking a chain on his bike at the end of the penultimate lap, Ruddock borrowed another bike and continued.
As this was against the rules, luckless Ruddock was disqualified by the race commissaire.
Fourth place was awarded to Andy Wallace (Dave Kane/Northern), as former road racer Brian Stewart (Usher RC) continued his fine first season of mtb action with a well deserved fifth.
Held over four laps, the Vets race was another closely fought contest featuring Apollo CT ‘s Aiden McDonald and Cuchulainn’s Gerry McCabe. McCabe led for the first two laps before McDonald surged into the lead, the Cooley Peninsula based rider managing to keep the lead until the finish line.
McCabe was runner up with XMTB’s Robbie Lamont in third.
Johnny McCabe (Cuchulainn) was fourth as Omagh’s Paul McMenamin (Specialized/Leisure Lakes) just got to the finish ahead of Andy Burns (Orchard Wheelers) and Gary Wilson (East Antrim Audi).
The Sports Mens race had a superb entry and saw mtb newcomer, Seamus Byrne (Cuchulainn) take a tremendous start to finish win, his success all the more remarkable as this was only his fourth ever race, the Dundalk rider having only made his debut at the K-Capital Rostrevor race! IMBRC’s Colm Keane grabbed second place ahead of fellow Club rider Joey Jones.
Ross Galway (Dromara CC) put in another fine ride to take fourth from Gareth Maguire (IMBRC) while Martin Grimley (Dromara CC) finished an excellent sixth.
Belfast based Oliver Cripps suffered a nasty tumble during the race and after receiving treatment St Johns he was driven home by Banbridge CC’s Simon Curry.
Ann Duffy (Newry Wheelers) scored a resounding win in the Sports Womens Class with Nicola Oldham edging fellow Banbridge rider Harriett Mayne out of second place.
Racing at Glenarm began with the Youth events, all providing superb action complete with parents offering fever pitch vocal support. The U-8 race was dominated by Banbridge CC, John Buller scoring a narrow in over Richard Baird as Shannon Buller took third from Shenna McKiverigan.
James Curry scored again for Banbridge with a runaway success in the U-10 race. Newry’s Cain McConvey just took second ahead of XMTB newcomer Conor Nairn.
Banbridge CC notched up another win when Dan Runciman took the honours in the U-12 event, a start to finish winner.
In a close dual for second, Chris Oaklet (XMTB) just got the verdict over Zak Hanna (Dromara CC). An excellent run of results for Banbridge was completed when Matthew Adair won the U-14 race in which he debuted his new bike, this was a first ever mtb win for the promising young rider who only made his debut at Castlewelllan last summer!
Banbridge CC’s Michael Runciman was runner up with third place going to XMTB’s Robbie Lamont. The U-16 event was a walkover for XMTB as Chris Cameron took a brilliant start to finish win, Chris showing superb form over the past few weeks.
In a close dual for second, William Boyd just had the edge over Jes Laird.
Well done to East Antrim Audi on what was only their second ever mtb promotion, hopefully they will be rewarded by an even bigger entry the next time they stage a race at the beautiful County Antrim venue.
This Sunday round two of the Irish NPS takes place at Ballinastoe in County Wicklow, the event organized by the Sorrento Club.
Race report by Andy Potts.
Photos: here