Dromara’s Coastal Leisure tour is outstanding success

13 May 2015

DROMARA Cycling Club hosted their annual Coastal Leisure tour on Sunday and it was brilliant to see such a big crowd in attendance with over 300 cyclists turning out to ride the two distances on offer, the 80-mile run and the 60-mile run.

In the weeks leading up to the event the riders had to pre-register for the event in order to secure a space, and with the original 250 spaces not taking long to fill up it was decided that an extra 50 spaces would be released, and this soon filled up to capacity.

Dromara Village Football Club was the headquarters for the day and many thanks to the committee of the club for allowing us the use of their excellent facilities to allow riders to get parked and to allow for changing after the event.

The Lord Mayor of Lisburn, Thomas Beckett, was in attendance to see the riders off as the Coastal was supporting his charity, The Mary Peters’ Trust, and it was great to see so many out supporting the charity.

The first half of ride takes in a scenic loop around the south Down coast to Strangford, where a generous spread of food was provided in the village, allowing the riders to take on well needed energy whilst they rest and enjoy the views across the lough to Portaferry.

After winter made a comeback last week there was much concern that Thursday night would be a wash out, but the good news for the testers was that there was a small window of clear weather that opened to allow them to complete the tough Spa course.

Starting at Spa Lake, the riders cycled to Seaforde where they turned to ride back to the lake in as quick a time as possible.

Fastest on the night was Brendan Duff in 23:57, which is said to be one of the quickest times set on that course. Barry Van Kellett, kitted out in his new time trial bike, helmet and skin suit, recorded a time of 24:38 which is a new personal best for him and good enough for second place. Matthew Armstrong was third in 25:30.

Many thanks to the marshals and timekeepers who helped out on the night and also thanks to those who took photos and served the tea and coffee after.

For more information on the next round of the club league visit our website and message board at www.dromaracc.co.uk or visit our group page on Facebook.

On Friday night the hardy mountain bikers showed that skin is waterproof as there was a great turnout tonight for the club’s first ever Enduro round of the MTB Club League.

The conditions on the course where very slippery and testing for the riders, making it even more fun for the riders to tackle. Thanks to all the riders for turning out on such a horrible night.

Dave Broome took first place with Peter Davison in second and Barry Van Kellett third. Dave had to run the final yards of stage one with a puncture and still managed to have a healthy gap at the end of the night. Well done to Graham Smyth riding the trails with no knowledge of what to expect in those conditions.

Well done to Gavin Magowan, Chris Magowan and Nathan Mullan who rode in the Tour of the Mournes on Sunday, a race hosted by Newry Wheelers.

Starting in Newry, the race went up to Warrenpoint via the carriageway before heading to Newcastle then climbing through Bryansford up to Hilltown. After turning right at Hilltown the riders headed to Castlewellan where they ascended the Horseshoe climb in the direction of Rathriland.

Once the riders climbed to steep hill into Rathfriland it was homeward bound for the finish line in Newry, whit the race totalling 72 miles.

Gavin and Chris rode a brilliant race with Chris riding in support of brother Gavin who finished a fantastic third in the race against a quality field, Gavin himself a winner of the race a few years ago.

Kudos to Chris for riding his legs off chasing down any moves that tried to get away in order to set Gavin up for a podium finish.

Well done to the Dromara riders who competed in the A2/A3, A4 and women’s race at the Grouchos GP on Saturday past. David Dickson finished a brilliant fourth place in the A4 race after some excellent riding from the Dromara riders to deliver him to the line. Ronnie Smyth finished in the bunch in the A2/A3 race with Martina Hawkins finishing high up in the women’s race.

Well done to Peter Davison who was fourth in the second round of the Vitus First Tracks Enduro Cup at Bigwood in a strong field of 20 riders.

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