LOCAL Cycling Club VC Glendale recently organised a cycling weekend in the heart of Andersonstown at the Northlink Playing fields on the last weekend in November.
On Saturday there was a cross community Mountain Bike fun event and on Sunday over 200 riders travelled from as far away as Donegal and Dublin to take part in a day of Cyclo-cross races in what has come to be known as the ‘Race of the Falling Leaves’.
In association with the NI Housing Executive and Belfast City Council, the Saturday Mountain Bike Event turned out to be a cold and windy afternoon, but that wasn’t enough to deter over 50 young people from all over Belfast who turned up for our skills and coaching sessions from our Glendale Imps coaches.
VC Glendale team prize winners: Lee Harvey, Dean Harvey and Jamie Meehan
The event finished with fun races around the race course and everyone got a goody bag! We would like to thank local residents and youths who came along on the day, feedback was nothing but positive, with many delighted to see the park and pitches being used in an innovative way.
On the Sunday, local spectators were treated to the exciting discipline of Cyclo-cross which is a mixture of off-road biking, similar to Mountain Biking with some running mixed in.
Races can be run over a mixture of gravel, grassland, mud, sand and forest trails with the riders often having to negotiate slippery turns, deep mud sections and runs up steps, throwing the bike over their shoulder to carry it.
It’s a common sight for the riders and the bikes to be completely covered in mud at the finish line!
Andy Ross leads the field out at the start of the B race
The Cyclo-cross race scene is becoming ever more popular in Ireland with races held in the four provinces most weekends attracting up to 1,000 competitors in total.
VC Glendale had the park decorated with Belgium flags and bunting reflecting their adopted club colours from the country which is the heart of this sport.
The race day started with the U6 Kids Fun races and then moved on to the U8s, U10s and U12s - with a win for Glendale’s Aoife Craig!
After a break, the races moved on to the U14s, U16s and Ladies, with wins for VC Glendale rider Aine Doherty, (who lives in sight of the park) in the U16 Girls race and Curtis McKee in the U14 Boys Race. Judith Russell from the Phoenix Club ran out winner in the Ladies Race.
Corran McCourt passing the finish line
The main race of the day was up next with the Mens A Race featuring the very best riders in Ireland including seven Glendale riders.
After a hectic mass start, unfortunately featuring a crash, the front runners of Belfast professional Chris McGlinchey and our own VC Glendale rider Dean Harvey pulled away and battled it out to the line with McGlinchey just taking the win. However VC Glendale had three riders all finishing at the front of the race and secured the team prize.
The last race of the day was the Mens B Race which featured three Glendale riders and turned out to be a muddy affair, with the course well and truly cut up from the previous races.
After 50 minutes of slipping, falling off and running through mud, Eamon Loney came out the winner, with Glendale rider Andy Ross just missing out on a podium.
Local girl Aine Doherty in the lead
The day turned out to be one of the best organised races of the season and the club were congratulated by the riders as well as local residents who had come out to watch, with many delighted to see the Northlink Park being used for such a positive cross community event which attracted all age groups and sexes.
The club would like to thank Belfast City Council and The Housing Executive for their support, club Sponsors Charles Hurst Renault and the Balmoral Hotel Belfast, St Agnes’ GAC for the use of their clubrooms, all the volunteers who helped out on the day and especially the local residents for such positive support.
