Dromara Trail Quest League Round 5 [Shimna Valley]

14.01.2009

The fifth and final round of the 2008 Trail Quest League took place today from the Shimna Valley Cancer Care Home site in Bryansford. Organised by Dromara Cycling Club, these five rounds were set up to raise much needed funds for the Shimna valley centre who are embarking on a capital spending drive this year to expand the excellent facilities at its site. With very strong gusty winds and heavy rain forecast it was testament to the hearty resolve of the cycling community in Ireland to come out today to support the event. With only a couple of cry-offs from the thirty eight teams who had pre-registered for the event, another 7 had shown up to take part taking the total number of teams participating up to 42. As well as the off-road adventure, Dromara CC had organised a leisure cycle which started and returned to the centre. Across both events this day had attracted over 100 riders from as far as field as Dublin and Limavady.

For the leisure mountain biking event, teams were given a map of the area with circles indicating the location of the markers or reference points. Set out by club secretary Trevor Annett, the markers were laid out as far north as Castlewellan and as far south as Newcastle. Teams were given 3½ hours to find as many markers as they could before returning to base. First away at 10:31 was Dubliner Aidan Ryan from Sorrento Cycling Club. The rest of the teams were then set off at one minute intervals.

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, after the first four rounds all eyes were on the top 4 teams who were hoping to finish well and receive cycling vouchers kindly donated by: Mourne Cycles, Cyclo Zone, McConvey cycles and Downey cycles. Points were accumulated across the five events but only the best four out of five would count for the overall score. Leading the league before the start of the fifth round were the 3 man team \'Who the fox is that?\' who were closely followed by The Losers and Muddy Bums. However, it was team: Lost and Found, who were just outside the top three going into the event, who proved to be the strongest on the day and just managing to beat the north Down team \'Who the fox is that?\' by two points. \'The fox\' got the second place slot with a three man team from Dromara cycling club, The Losers, finishing in third. Also awarded was team JNS who were one of five with one member of their team aged under 16.

Once all riders returned to base they were able to squeeze into the canteen for some well deserved soup, rolls, sandwiches and donuts. After all had been eaten there was a short speech from the centre manager before the winners were announced.

Many thanks to the staff at the staff at Shimna Valley for providing the excellent food.

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.

Full results from the 5 round series can be found on www.dromaracc.co.uk