Dromara Trail Quest League Round 4 [Seaforde]
31.12.2008
Dromara Trail Quest League Round 4 [Seaforde]Round 4 of Dromara Cycling Club's popular Winter Trail Quest League took place today from the event headquarters at Brennan's service station near Seaforde, County Down. With -4oC on the temperature dial it wasn't a morning for standing around chatting. Nonetheless, this event attracted 97 riders making up 43 teams from across Northern Ireland all keen to participate in this leisure mountain biking sport. Ross Galway and Martin Grimley from the club were kept busy administering the many riders with sign on open from 9:30 and the first teams away at 10:31. Teams had 3½ hours to find as many markers as they could before returning to base. The markers were laid out as far north as Drumaness and as far south as Dundrum with a mixture of off-road and on-road riding to suit all tastes. The riders were given a map of the area with circles indicating the location of the markers or reference points. The weather stayed dry and cool with little wind to trouble the riders which was in stark contrast to this time last year when the cyclists had to deal with a covering of snow and strong winds.
Once again there were cyclists from nearly all the local cycling clubs including Banbridge, Newry wheelers, Apollo, La Lanterne Rouge, Phoenix, XMTB and Dromara. However, it was the dominant 3 man team from Ards Cycling Club that scored the highest points in this event keeping them at the top of the overall league. In second place it was lone rider Ivan Millar, from the Lagan Valley Orienteering Club, who was only 15 points behind the winners and 36 points ahead of his nearest rival. It was also great to see 5 teams with junior riders (aged under 16) out enjoying their day finding markers. Well done to team JNS for again scoring highly in this event.
After the initial administration was sorted out, Ross and Martin also supplied backup for the riders but thankfully they were not called upon to transport riders back to base. There were a few punctures reported and a couple of falls including one of the female riders from CCAR who fell heavily. The club wish her a speedy recovery.
Once all riders returned to base they were given a ticket which allowed them to get some great hot stew and bread from Brennan's café. This seemed to hit the spot after a cold day adventuring.
Many thanks to the staff at the staff at Brennan's garage for providing the excellent food and use of the portacabin.
Many thanks to the Forde family for the use of their estate (the Forde estate, Seaforde Butterfly house and gardens). Please note that this land is not available for riding at any other time of the year.
And, of course, many thanks to all the riders who turned up to support both the event and the Children's Cancer Home, Shimna Valley, who are benefiting from the proceeds of the 5 events.
The final round of the Trail Quest League will be held on Sunday 11th January 2009 from Shimna Valley Cancer Care Home for Children, Bryansford Road, Newcastle. On the same day, Dromara Cycling Club are organising a cycling tour of approximately 35-40 miles for road cyclists to also raise money for this cause. At the end of both events, the club will be presenting a cheque to the Shimna Valley Cancer Care Home.
See our website for more details & full list of results. www.dromaracc.co.uk
