The little ones (under 12 yrs) eat free and may have a smaller portion of the menu options shown or the mini pizzas.
Remember admittance and lunch at Storm in a Teacup is strictly by purchasing a wristband at £5 each. Kids 12yrs and above must be paid for. The wristbands go on sale from 11th April at the club quiz.
The season has just started but it’s clear to see that some of our hard-core racers have been working hard over the miserable winter months.
With rising star Janine McNally taking a sabbatical, Rachel Mitchell has stepped forward and has been able to transfer her track form to the roads. Rachel finished a fantastic 2nd place in the John Haldane Memorial event in Newry.
Rachel then followed up this success with a strong ride in round 3 of the women’s series. Rachel rode hard from the go and attempted several attacks. The field reacted to them all and the bunch kept together until the end with Rachel ending up in 4th spot, just outside of the podium places. The women’s series this year looks like it will be hotly contested and we wish Rachel the very best.
Noel Boyce has been able to keep his form from last year and has already 2 wins under his belt with success at the Phoenix GP and the John Haldane Memorial Masters Race. At this race our Club Chairman let the club know that he’s not just talk with a strong 2nd place.
It’s early days and some of our racers are ramping up but our stars from last year are already sticking their heads up. Paul Ferguson has continued his recovery and the spritely 38 year old is showing the young guys that there’s more to come with a win at the Cycleways Cup in Navan and a strong performance and 6th place in Carryduff.
The newly wed, Matty Blayney, has been working hard to burn off the honeymoon calories and has a top 10 finish to date with a lot more to come. Dave Watson (Junior) has showed great early form and although he has been unlucky in some early races, he has achieved a strong 2nd A2 place in Navan and a fantastic 5th place in the Newbridge GP.
Other riders are ramping up their efforts and expect to hear future results from James McMaster, Conor Hannah and maybe our winter racers Garth Beattie and Peter Doggart will convert some winter training into points!
Stephen Cousins PRO
The first race of the 2014 Ulster Cross Country MTB series took place on Sunday 9th March at the NI MTB jewel of the crown – Kilbroney, Rostrevor. The race was being held as part of the 2014 Rostrevor MTB festival with both downhill and cross country events taking place, creating a great buzz around the magical Kilbroney surroundings.
The last time I was at Rostrevor, I managed to hit a tree at 20mph trying to keep up with one of those Blayney chaps. No such foolishness was going to take place today. I knew my limits, had a strategy in place and had even negotiated extra time away from the wife and kids for an early start and hence get an eagle eyed practice lap in the bag. Bar a mechanical there was no stopping my plan to take a coveted top 10 in UXC, S3, Round 1.
S3 had attracted the biggest field of the day with almost 60 eager riders lining up at the start line at the caravan park. The fast boys (S2) had been let loose a couple of minutes ahead of us with the really really fast boys (S1) set off before them. The eventual S3 starting whistle brought back the excitement of the argy bargy MTB XC shenanigans as a crowd of grown men on bicycles let their inner natural Neanderthal instincts take over and fought bravely to get ahead. I managed to hold my own with the starting challenge and gradually moved from the middle of the grid toward the front 10. One of Rostrevor’s defining features is the steep initial climb, affectionately known on strava as quite simply “THE HILL”. To my mind there isn’t a more apt description. Think Church road, Holywood on fire road gravel, with lots of trees around you and you get an idea of the conquest ahead. Tis quite a funny spectacle, I’m sure, to be watching hoards of hairy MTBers grimacing through the pain whilst travelling at various speeds, but rarely exceeding the 6mph mark. After the seemingly never ending initial hill horror there was a welcome left turn into the rocky ‘horse trail’ single track. Under normal circumstances navigating through this trail would be relatively easy, but after the lactic acid build up from the climb, riders were making mistakes all over the place. I managed to make my way past a couple more riders and slotted in behind a competent rider I knew who would take good lines giving me some time to rest the mind as I followed along. The horse trail eventually led onto a steep descent where my companion and I lost our places to a rider who seemed to have no fear of ruts, roots nor rocks as he flew past us at high speed. Oh, but to have such technical ability and lack of risk aversion! The remaining part of the course took us through a mixture of tree touring, where keeping traction was always a challenge, and then some fast single track where you were given some respite and could breathe a sigh of relief as the heart rate moved back towards a more manageable level.
Come lap 3 I was battling hard with a couple of riders and the mental battle was also beginning to commence with my angel and devil shoulder companions both doing their best to lift me up and bring me down respectively. Unfortunately the little red pitchforked fella was beginning to make ground with observations and questions such as: “Of course you are slowing down. What do you expect when you spent half your winter days sitting watching Breaking Bad/The Wire/Rome on the warm comfort of the sofa instead of being out there building your base”. True true little fella, but sure look at the amount of rain we’ve had these last few months, eh? Surely all those other MTB boyos were also wrapped up warm in their onesies indulging in the modern day escape that is TV? “Not true, you lazy XXXX. Look at Johnny Reid out every night blitzing those Cairnwood hill climbs like they were North Down peninsula time trials”. And so the imaginary conversation went on until I finally got past a couple of riders who had been exchanging places with me over lap 2. With mini Satan finally knocked off his pedestal (and rode over with my 29″ wheels) I began to again focus positively on the task at hand. I managed to spot and take a slight short-cut that no-one else appeared to be using, cutting through the trees to shave a few precious seconds off the lap time. I found it strange that everyone else was sticking to the well-trodden path and analogous to the guilty pleasure of taking a strava kom on a path shared with pedestrians, it felt kind of wrong, but I knew it was legal! As I approached the last third of the final lap, I was sitting in 7th place and felt I still had some glycogen stores left to burn in the tank. I pushed on past a couple of S2 riders, but couldn’t get sight of the S3 riders ahead of me and eventually crossed the line coming in a respectable 7th. A great opening round course, superbly organised by Dromara Cycling Club.
All in all there were 4 NDCC MTB warriors in action at Rostrevor which was great to see. Johnny Reid, who has been showing great form in the Ormeau early season events, was unlucky to (again!) snap a chain whilst leading S2. Andrew McCullough is on an upward trajectory to his great potential, finishing in a great 7th in S2. Shaun Carey, who is relatively new to MTB, put in a solid performance in S3.
No drugs were consumed during this race (obviously) nor the writing of the above report (not so obvious).
This year’s Cycling Ulster Awards night was at the Moyola Golf Club in Castledawson. Cyclists, young and old, from across Ulster showed up to pick up their medals and awards. There were over one hundred and sixty in attendance and members from North Down CC picked up their share of awards.
Ulster 25 Team Time Trial Championship – Women – Bronze Medal NDCC
The team consisted of Louise Togneri, Ange Perrott, Janine McNally & Alison McMullan
Gillian Orr
Ulster 25 Mile TT – Veteran Women’s Championship – Silver Medal
Ulster Women 10 Mile TT Championships – Bronze Medal
Louise Togneri
Ulster Women 10 Mile TT Championships – Silver Medal
Janine McNally
Ulster 25 Mile TT – Women’s Championship – Silver Medal
Ulster Women’s Road Race Championships – Silver Medal
Maia Simmons
Under 10 Female Ulster CX Series – Gold Medal (Maia won 7 out of her 8 races)
Harry Dow
Under 14 TT Championship – Youth Men – Bronze Medal
Road Race Championship – Under 13 Youth Men – Gold Medal
Paul Ferguson
Ulster CX Series MTB Support Series Senior Men – Gold Medal
Alison McMullan
Ulster CX Series MTB Support Series Senior Women – Bronze Medal
Will Hamilton
Under 16 Male Ulster CX Series – Bronze Medal
Adam Preece
Under 14 Male Ulster CX Series – Silver Medal
Ben Webb
Under 14 Male Ulster CX Series – Bronze Medal
Molly McLarnon
Under 14 Female Ulster CX Series – Gold Medal
A massive congratulations to all of our medal winners and here’s to many more in 2014.
Stephen Cousins PRO
I’ve only been cycling for a few years and so I know how confusing it can be. I’ll try to break it down as simply as possible.
The first step is of course is to become a member of North Down Cycling Club.
How to Join NDCC
If you are Over 18 then you can complete your registration online. The cost is only £20 and runs from January to December. You can register online using Entry Central – click here.
For Youth & Junior Membership (aged 8-18 inclusive) please contact our club secretary directly for further information via alison@northdowncc.com – You can join the club for FREE but as a Youth / Junior member, Flo will require a form to be filled and signed by a parent / guardian.
Which Cycling Ireland Licence?
NDCC strongly recommends that all members should hold a Cycling Ireland Licence. This is not just for those wishing to compete but members looking to take part on Club Runs and Sportives. All Cycling Ireland members have personal accident and public liability insurance by virtue of their membership of Cycling Ireland. This insurance will cover you when you are out training or taking part in approved Cycling Ireland events. If you would like to be insured for training and events, you will need to join Cycling Ireland.
YOUTH Members ONLY (i.e. aged 8 – 16 inclusive) – The Club will pay for your Relevant Licence from Cycling Ireland.
Licence Types
Introductory Licence
If you have never been a member of Cycling Ireland, and are not interested in racing you can select an “Introductory” licence for €20. This covers you while you are out training, on club spins, and while participating in leisure tours. Under 16s and Juniors can also take out this license type instead of a full competition license if they do not wish to compete.
Non-Competition Licence
This is a leisure licence, and it covers you while you are out training, on club spins, and while participating in leisure tours. This is available to existing Cycling Ireland members, so if you got an introductory licence last year, when you renew you get this licence for the same options. The fee is €35 if you are based in Ulster.
The reason for the higher fees in Ulster is that the province has elected (at the provincial AGM) to levy a provincial fee upon each member rather than each club.
Limited Competition Licence – NEW (This replaces Club Competition / Restrictive Licence)
A limited competition licence allows you to compete in all domestic competition except open road races. It replaces the Restricted licence choices and also covers Club Competition. In other words you may use a Limited Competition licence to compete in Track, BMX, Off-Road, Time-Trials, Hill-Climbs, Club Racing, Bicycle-polo and Artistic Cycling. This licence is not specific to one discipline, it covers them all. It does not include Open Road Racing.
This licence is €60 if you are in a club and €90 if you are not in a club. There is a further €10 charge if you are from Ulster.
Full Competition Licence
This licence costs €125 if you are in a club, and €155 if you are not in a club. There is a further €10 charge if you are from Ulster. This licence qualifies you for racing in any discipline (including offroad, bmx, TT etc) in Ireland. If you want to race overseas you can get overseas authorisation for an extra €20, and submit/upload a photo ID electronically. If you want to race on the road in open races, this is the type of licence you want.
The categories you can select from are based on your ability, the highest being A+, which is reserved for those road riders who are on pro-teams (with the exception of female pro riders). A1 is the next highest category, then A2, the majority of the members are either A3 or A4 riders, with the A4 category being reserved for new members, and weaker/less experienced riders. The distances vary depending on the category. In general, all riders taking out their first senior/veterans full competition license must take out an A4 license.
To Join / Renew your licence the follow this link – http://www.cyclingireland.ie/page/membership
Guide in Brief
If you want to take part in club runs / sportives then you need a non-competition licence
If you would like to do our club time trials, Kirkistown races, open TTs, other club races (e.g. Ards CC), Off-Road races etc then you need a Limited Competition Licence
If you would like to take part in Open Road races (and any of the above) then you need a Full Competition Licence.
Students are entitled to a 50% discount on a full competition licence but if you are 16 and under then the club will pay for your licence.
Stephen Cousins