STIFF TEST FOR NORTH DOWN CYCLISTS

With the cycle racing season barely a month old the racing cyclists of North Down Cycling Club will face their first major challenge of the current campaign when they line up this Friday evening for the prologue time trial of the 2010 Tour of the North. Over the last few years this Easter stage race has attracted an increasing number of teams from Britain and Europe, bringing in many top class riders keen to take on the best of the local competition.

Last year top English outfit Rapha Condor made a serious attempt to claim victory but it was Newtownards man Martyn Irvine of Curran Racing who emerged as a worthy winner. Rapha return this year as does Martyn Irvine though this year Irvine will be part of a strong Planet X team. Also back from Belgium are the Decock Sportivo squad and two teams from Holland, WV de Kanibaal and Westland.

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McCREADIE SPRINTS FOR NORTH DOWN’S SECOND WIN

The roads west of the Bann are proving to be a happy hunting ground for North Down Cycling Club’s racing team. Two weeks ago at Coalisland Rachel Mitchell took her first road win and Mark Irvine claimed second place in the B race. Last Saturday’s race, promoted by East Tyrone on a rolling course near Moneymore brought Duane McCreadie his first win since his days as a very successful schoolboy mountain biker. Pre-race talk was that the route would suit Mark Irvine more than Duane but the large bunch of A4 riders stayed largely intact and McCreadie, having positioned himself perfectly in the run in to the line, timed his effort to perfection; not an easy task given that the road rose sharply over the final 100 metres. Behind Duane, Mark Irvine finished well inside the front half of the bunch.

Duane

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NORTH DOWN’S NEW STARS SHINE

The current cycling race season is only three weeks old but already North Down Cycling Club has two new names to add to its roster of successful riders following the P J Logan Cup races at Coalisland last Sunday. The encouraging aspect of these performances is that both riders, Rachel Mitchell and Mark Irvine are both only 19 years old.

FIRST WIN

Rachel Mitchell is not a stranger to the winner’s podium, having had a series of wins in the last few years as a track cyclist. In fact in 2009 she set new national records as a junior in the Irish championships but although Rachel has trained on the road she has only recently embarked on a road racing programme as a senior. Cycling Ulster is working hard to promote races for women and there have been regular turnouts of over 20 riders at early season races. As a relative novice on the road racing scene, Rachel could have picked a more friendly course than the Coalisland promotion with its demanding, hilly roads. The race was split into two groups with Rachel in the limit group. The more experienced riders in the scratch group would normally have been confident of reeling in the limit group but the group rode with great determination and at the end an early, uphill sprint for the line looked as though it might backfire but Rachel hung on to take the victory ahead of Lisa Mann (Roe Valley) .

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McCREADIE PICK OF THE BUNCH

The second weekend of the 2010 racing season was centred on the Newry Wheelers’ promotion, the John Haldane Memorial which, because of road works, was moved away from the normal hilly circuit around Kilcoo to the dual carriageway between Newry and Warrenpoint. This turned out to be a mixed blessing for the six North Down riders who travelled to the event. The new A4 category race drew another big entry and North Down’s hopes were riding on the rapidly improving novice Mark Irvine and the more experienced Duane McCreadie who was taking part in his first race of the season. Young Irvine has strength in the hills but the flat terrain was ideal for McCreadie and at the end of the race, which came down to a bunch sprint, he was just edged out of third place with Irvine coming 12th.

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STEADY START FOR NORTH DOWN CYCLISTS

A few days ago the Meteorological Office announced that Northern Ireland had just experienced the coldest winter since 1963. Last weekend saw the first road races of the new season, Annaclone on Saturday and Nutt’s Corner on Sunday and the dry but bitterly cold weather was a reminder that the short-sleeved jerseys might remain at the bottom of the drawer for another few weeks. North Down’s racing squad had a steady but encouraging start to the season with the Phoenix GP on Sunday bringing out the best performances of the weekend. .

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CYCLISTS FRUSTRATED BY WEATHER

Last week’s optimism about the demise of icy weather has proved to be premature. The final pre-season reliability trial, scheduled for last Sunday by Phoenix CC in Belfast, had to be cancelled when riders awoke to find a layer of snow covering the landscape. The prospects for the coming weekend don’t appear to be much better. The opening race of the season is planned for Annaclone on Saturday, to be followed on Sunday by the Phoenix GP on the Nutt’s Corner circuit. The Met. Office is predicting snow through to the weekend and if the forecast turns out to be accurate both races could well be abandoned. It has been a winter where prolonged cold and icy weather has curtailed the normal preparation riders depend on to get them ready for the early season races.

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