The Ulster 25 mile time trial championships were held a couple of weeks ago on the A4 Dungannon to Ballygawley dual carriageway.

The event was promoted by the UCPC for the first time and they pulled out all the stops to make this a memorable day. The weather was dry and very mild with the temperature sitting at 20 degrees with a slight wind

The course along the new carriageway from Dungannon to Ballygawley was excellent in that the surface was smooth and there was little traffic. There was a climb or long drag on the course, which proved tough, but fast times were still recorded.

Janine 25 Mile TT

Fastest Ulster man on the day was Daniel Stewart of EC Mayenne who lifted the title in a time of 53.44, Surprise medallist on the day, however, was local man Fraser Duncan of Eurocycles riding his very first 25 mile TT. Fraser has had a great year and is the current Ulster Road Race Champion. As an adopted North Down rider Fraser is well known by all the club and everyone at the club is delighted to see him do so well.

There was good turnout of women for the event making a real competition on the day. Laura Maxwell of Roe Valley who has shown consistent form all year added both the Junior and senior women’s 25 mile TT titles to her collection with a time of 1:02:54. She was followed in by North Down’s very own Marianne Vos – Janine McNally who took silver with a time of 1:04:20 Both these women are not long back from riding Rás na mBan, Ireland’s only women specific stage race which featured many international teams. It caps a fantastic season for Janine making her, by far, our most successful senior rider of 2013.

Dates for your Diary

There are a few important dates coming up over the next couple of weeks that you may want to take note of. The club AGM will be held on Wednesday 6th November at 19:30. As usual the venue will be the salubrious surroundings of the Club House at Ward Park. Don’t forget that it’s YOUR club so please make an effort to attend. This year there are some great committee roles up for grabs so why not come along and nominate your friends!

Then the action moves to Pickie Bowling Club for the social event of the year. Prize night will be Saturday 30th November at 19:00. Please be aware that since the building is licensed all children must have left the building by 21:00. Please ensure that all perpetual trophies are returned to Eric Blayney cleaned and engraved in plenty of time.

In between these two milestones in your social calendar there will be the second North Down Cyclo-Cross race held at Aurora Leisure Centre on the 27th October utilising Castle Park. Building on the success of last year’s race at Ballymacormick the 2013 edition should prove to be another great race with arguably our strongest team of ‘cross racers for years. If not actually racing then why not turn

up to help marshal the event or even just come to cheer on our hardy racers. It’s a great spectator sport with fans able to see the entire course and get right up close to the action!

One should only run when being chased and swim only to prevent drowning. Seems simple enough though we have a few members in North Down who not only flaunt this simple logic but have turned it into one of greatest sporting achievement of the club this year.

Many of you may have watched some of the event in question – The World Triathon Championships, held in the nation’s capital. Watched with amazement from your armchair while Brownlee and Gomez fought it out over the final metres for gold, both men battling it out by the slimmest of margins. What you may not know however is that, we at North Down, had three athletes competing in the very same event. On Sunday 15^th September of this year more than 1000 triathletes descended upon London to contest the World Championships. From North Down we sent Dougie Ruddock, Les Wilkinson and Louise Tognieri. Unfortunately Gary Swenarton missed out having broken his collarbone one week previous. Triathlete fans will know that Gary recently competed in the Championships in New Zealand finishing as highest placed national athlete in his category so who knows what he could have achieved on home soil?

Louise Togneri

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There have been rumours going round that the cycle season is over for 2013 but someone must have forgotten to tell North Down CC the news.

Janine McNally has been battling all week against some of the best female cyclists in the world over the hard roads of County Clare at the Ras na mBan. Long road stages, criteriums, crashes, atrocious weather and team time trials were all thrown at Janine and her Cycling Ulster Team. It was a steep learning curve at times but anyone who knows Janine will testify that she’ll back for the 2014 race faster, stronger and apparently lighter. Perhaps, with a bit of support from the club, with respect to masseur/soigneur provision then Janine will be able to mount a strong attack on the GC in this prestigious race next year.

At a slightly more sedate pace the Touring Team was yet again clocking up the miles. Saturday was the Marie Curie “Tour of South Down”. This event has traditionally been well supported by North Down and this year was no exception. Leaving the clubhouse on Saturday morning and picking up various nefarious characters along the way a large team of pink and black assembled at the Downpatrick Racecourse ready to support this worthy charity. The weather was kind and the course well marshalled resulting in a great days touring. Some of the team decided post lunch to take the short way home, picking up the ferry at Strangford and heading straight back to Bangor. With “The Ferries” left behind a much-depleted team pushed on round the course tackling hills at an enthusiastic pace, which moved Denise Hart to thank everyone at the front for their efforts. At the 85-mile mark, however, the team was beginning to show signs of fatigue but Rachy Sinnamon then moved to front and dragged everyone back home and more importantly through the psychological 100-mile marker. Altogether it was a great day out raising money for charity with great company and some fine late summer weather.

Touring Team Downpatrick

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Last Wednesday two time trials were highly contested. One for the overall lead in La Vuelta a Espana and the other representing one of the few last chances to earn a gold medal in North Down’s last 5-mile time trial of the year. It’s difficult to say which event was more highly contested with the stakes being so high at both and each being held in glorious weather.

Competition Secretary, Martin Piper, decided on the start line at the top of Orlock meaning high speeds were quickly achieved with the aim of holding them all the way to the Groomsport roundabout before the drag back up Orlock into a slight headwind. Then back down from Orlock with hopefully enough left in the tank for a quick run into the finish line.

The result was some quick times for all riders. Juniors in particular were well represented with the usual suspects putting in some fast times. Joash Lawrence was the fastest under 16 with Harry Dow taking his customary position at the head of the Under 14s. Molly McLarnon led the girls home, motor pacing her father all the way giving him a good workout prior to the fast approaching ‘cross season. Gillian Orr took the honours in the Ladies race with John Rafferty fastest man.

The fantastic weather meant the club had a good turnout of tourists with Mark Kane (Northern CC) taking the fastest overall time. East Antrim, ‘Ards, Bikeworks and the Peninsula Club all sent representatives making for a great night’s racing.

Credit must be given to Martin’s merry band of marshals from the steady hand of Mr. Hunter on the start line to the finish line time-keepers all played their roles with the utmost professionalism. In particular the roundabout team did a magnificent job keeping “the turn” safe under pressure from a high volume of traffic. It goes without saying that these events could not be held without their able assistance.