IRISH XC NPS Round 4 - Belfast

4 Cuchulainn’s travelled to Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park, Belfast on Sunday 26th May to compete in round 4 of the Irish XC NPS Series. The weather an unusually tropical and sunny 16 degree’s was very welcome not only by the riders but the hordes of spectators and casual users of the park alike. The course was almost the same as the 2012 layout with a few modifications to the back and the Tech Zone areas, 5km per lap, a very fast course with kicker climbs, fast descents, some fire road and rolling grassy meadows, a mix of everything.

Sandra O’Hagan was the first of the Cuchulainn’s to race, in the S3 Women category. Her main rival on the day would be Lisa Millar from Dromara CC. Sandra and Lisa battled it out over the 2 lap race and only a slight lapse of concentration on the 2nd lap caused Sandra to loose the back wheel of Lisa allowing her to pull away and take the win with Sandra coming in 2nd and rounding up 3rd place was Una May.

The remaining Cuchulainns, Gary Sheils, Fergus McCann and Michael Wilson were racing in S2 and S3 respectively. With the larger number of racers in the S2 and S3 categories the sprint to the first corner was important as this course narrowed very quickly in the forested area making it harder to carry out any overtaking. Unfortunately the race didn’t go according to plan for Fergus and Gary; Fergus had to retire after the first lap due to a mechanical problem and Gary had pull into the Tech Zone after lap 1 to tighten his seat post which had dropped, loosing him valuable time. Meanwhile Michael was having his own battles with Leo and his vast supporters club from IMBRC. All racing done, Gary Sheils took 13th place in S2 (top 1/2 of the field) and Michael Wilson took 14th place in S3 (top 1/3 of the field). An excellent days racing was had in Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park, an excellent venue.