Foyle Cycling Club had originally planned on running Round 1 of the Ulster Cyclo-cross Series on Sunday 20 October 2024 but had to cancel when Storm Ashley hit Ireland that day and the park was closed. The club opted to run the Ulster Championships instead. In the run up to the race it felt like déjà vu when Storm Darragh was forecasted to hit Ireland. Thankfully it hit on Friday evening with the remaining Yellow Warning finishing at 6 am on Sunday. The park had been closed on Saturday so the club did not have their usual pre-race opportunity to set up the course. The course set up had to all be done on Sunday morning. The club met at 7 am and within 2 hours they had the course ready. And what a great course it was too, taking in some new diversions around some fallen trees. As before, the start/finish was on the wide gravel running track. The racers left the track through a narrow gap in the trees before taking on the main section of the course. They then reappeared down the grass bank back to the fast finish on the running track. The weather on Sunday was mild with glimpses of sunshine. A great day for cyclo-cross.

The first event was the Under 6s race. The 7 young riders lined up for one lap of the running track. The club had supplied some nice goodie bags for the finish.
The Under 8s were next. Their course took them up into the trees. They had 3 laps to complete. Taking the win in the boys’ race was Séan McGahan (Square Wheels). Ewan Corey (Apollo Cycling Team) was second with Noah Finnegan (Square Wheels) third. Elianna Logan (Omagh Wheelers Cycling Club) won the girls’ race. Chloe Eagleson was second. Sally Mowbray (Belfast City BMX Club) just passed her twin sister within the last 5 metres of the finish line to take third leaving Ava Mowbray (Belfast City BMX Club) fourth

The Under 10s then lined up for 4 laps of a longer course than the Under 8s had. Conor McGahan (Square Wheels) crossed the line first in the boys’ race with Josh Ruddell (Shelbourne/Orchard CC) second and Thomas Crymble (Apollo Cycling Team) third. Ríonach Campbell (Square Wheels) won the girls’ race and also managed to finish third overall. Ciara McCool (Square Wheels) was second with Emily Jennings (Un-Attached Ulster) third.

The Under 12s course was longer again than the Under 10s and they had 5 laps to race over. It was great to see the return of Aoife Campbell (Square Wheels) who, despite starting with the other girls several seconds behind all the boys, passed them all to take the overall win, first girl. Jack McGahan (Square Wheels) was the leading boy for the first two laps but Lewis Bell (Shelbourne/Orchard CC) passed Jack and held on to the finish line. Jack finished second. Nathan Baker (Breffni Wheelers) joined the boys’ podium in third place. Joining Aoife on the girls’ podium was Ruby Millar (Square Wheels) (second place) and Amelia Finnegan (Square Wheels) (third place).

Next up was the race for the Under 14s, Under 16s and Women. They were the first to use the full course. In the Under 14 boys’ race Dylan Finnegan (Square Wheels) took the chequered flag with Kealan Doherty (Foyle CC) second and Rory McCool (Square Wheels) third. Ava Baker (Breffni Wheelers) was the only racer in the Under 14 girls’ race and competed strongly over her 3 laps. There were no Under 16 girls at the championships with only two Under 16 boys. Caleb McGreevy (VC Glendale) continued his winning streak this season finishing well ahead of James Mackey (Foyle CC).

In the Women’s race it was a triumphant return for Junior rider Aliyah Rafferty (Tofauti Everyone Active) who took the overall win in the 5 lap race. Senior rider Elena Wallace (Harps CC) was second with Masters rider Trudy Brown (VC Glendale) third. Rachel Newell (McConvey Cycles) and Laura Birley (Un-Attached Ulster) joined Elena on the Senior women’s podium taking second and third respectively.

The next race was for the Junior men, M50s and M60s. Putting on an impressive display of strength was Junior rider Curtis McKee (Spellman-Dublin Port) who took the overall win. Last year’s Ulster Junior champion Cameron Henry (Inspired Cycling) was second with Ashton Moore (Strabane Lifford Cycling Club) third.

In the M50s race Alan Bingham (Inspired Cycling) became Ulster champion with Barry Convery (Newry Wheelers CC) second and Jason Henry (Inspired Cycling) third. Last year’s Ulster M50 champion Declan McEntee (Emyvale CC) had to settle for fourth. In the M60 category Kevin McDowell (Un-Attached Ulster) took the win ahead of Francis Quigley (Foyle CC) with Derek Patterson third and Derek King (Apollo Cycling Team) fourth.

The final race of the day was for the Seniors and M40s. Both had 6 laps to complete. Darnell Moore (Team Caldwell Cycles) had a great race at the World Cup in Dublin last Sunday and took this form into winning the Ulster Senior champion medal. Graham Boyd (McConvey Cycles) was second with Jonny Adams (McConvey Cycles) third, James Gordon (Phoenix CC) fourth and James Alexander (McConvey Cycles) fifth.

In the M40s race it was last year’s champion Glenn Kinning (Kinning Cycles Cycling Club) who came back to retain his title. Barry Kellett (Dromara Cycling Club) was second. Darragh McCarter (Spellman-Dublin Port) managed to break his chain on the start line, ran to the pits, changed bikes then proceeded to pass enough of the M40s to make it to third place and onto the podium. Drew McKinley (Newry Wheelers CC) had been holding the third spot for most of the race but had to settle for fourth. Stephen Walsh (Carn Wheelers) was fifth.

A huge thanks to all those from Foyle Cycling Club for setting up the course, marshalling, admin duties, timekeeping and then tearing down the course. Top effort! Thanks to the council for allowing the race and to Dany Blondeel for race commentary. This concludes the Ulster Cyclo-cross season for 2024. After Christmas there is Round 4 of the National Cyclo-cross series at the McCrystal Track (5 January) and then the National Cyclo-cross Championships at Ballinasloe, County Galway (11-12 January 2025).
Commissaires: Jim Adams, Martin Grimley
Results here: https://ulstercyclocross.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Ulster_Cyclo_cross_Championships_2024_Results.htm?
Race report by Martin Grimley

Some selected photos (more podium photos will be found on www.facebook.com/danyblondeel )