Gerry McCabe Irish veterans Cyclocross Champion 2011

2011 is o[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"129","attributes":{"class":"media-image alignleft size-medium wp-image-137","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"249","height":"300","alt":""}}]]nly a week old and already Cuchulainn Cycling Club has crowned it's first National Champion of 2011, with Gerry McCabe winning the Vets title on Sunday last at the National cyclocross Championships held in Lurgan Park, Co. Antrim. Formerly a national mountain bike vets champion and an accomplished road rider, it was no doubt that Gerry would make a succesful leap to cyclocross, a hybrid sport which is held on off-road. Cyclocross courses typically feature pavement, wooded trails, grass, steep hills and obstacles requiring the rider to quickly dismount, carry the bike whilst navigating the obstruction and remount. It is a support that requires stamina coupled with explosive speed to get away from competitors and through the mud.
 
The race was held over 7 laps of a 1.4mile circuit on a very cold day. Not only did he win the Veterans section of the race but finished 5th overall behind the winner, Olympian Robin Seymour, who took his 17th National Cyclocross Championship. Gerry proved he had good form coming into the event when he won the club's Christmas Time Trial on December 31st, coming in ahead of Owen Martin and Bryan McCrystal in third. In fact there was less than a minute separating the top 4, with Niall Clarke in fourth position, only 29 seconds behind Gerry's winning time of 23mins and 2 secs. It was a great turn out on the day with over 30 riders signing on for the event, which had made a return to the calendar after a 3 year absence.
 
Sean Loughrane was also successful on the cyclocross scene when on December 28th he was the winner of the Sports Events at the Bike Pure Grand Prix held at Bellurgan Park. This was an excellent result for Sean as a complete newcomer to the sport of Cross. Sean wasn't the only Cuchulainn rider making his deput at the event, with Johnny McCabe and Karl Dolan also taking to the mud-filled tracks for the first time.

2010 Christmas Time Trial Results
1st Gerry McCabe 23:02
2nd Owen Martin 23:27
3rd Bryan McCrystal 23:29
4th Niall Clarke 23:33
5th Niall Kelly 24:12
6th Damien Treanor 24:51
7th Karl Dolan 24:58
8th Niall Ivory 24:59
9th Myles McCorry 25:11
10th Séan Loughran 25:40
11th Dermot Keelan 25:43
12th Gerard Smyth 26:48
13th Gary Shiels 26:52
14th David Deegan 27:26
15th Alan Gray 27:30
16th Kevin Byrne 27:47
17th Damien Faulkner 27:50
18th Fergus McCann 27:56
19th Orla McAdam 28:19
20th Gary Brodigan 28:46
21st John McLoughlin 28:58
22nd Michael Clarke 29:03
23rd Jordan Flood 29:33
24th Tony Matthews 29:46
25th Aishling Martin 29:58
26th Stephen Ralph 30:00
27th Patick Muckian 30:13
28th John Neary 30:45
29th Andrew Flood 31:09
30th Aaron McCann 31:23
31st Gavin McKee 32:46
32nd Gerard Neary 32:52
33rd Brendan Neary 33:54