Week Ending 01/05/16

KCC continues to grow in strength and members as we are inundated with more requests for club rides and applications for new members – We must be doing something right 🙂

We ran our first road race and it didn’t disappoint (well maybe a few of our members) as it drew in over 25 racers, who were placed in order of scratch. The joint A&B group had a 3 min gap on group C, then a further 3 min back was the last group who had their work cut out for them to hunt down and catch those in front on the short but windy 3.77 mile circuit. However it was the impressive riding and hard work of the remaining 4 from the first group that made it very difficult for the chasing riders to close down, and this was all due to ‘the boss’ Jill McClements giving the orders to keep them all in shape and motivated into not getting caught, however the hard work and consistent driving force of our visitors from DCC along with Stephen Cunningham, Scott and Andy McC paid off as they caught the remaining 4 in front of them on the last lap, and with just under 4 miles to go, those at the front turned the screw up that we bit more and our remaining KCC rider was unfortunately dropped meaning there was only one rider out of the four at the front who could win the interclub race, but he was surrounded by 3 DCC riders and it was these 3 who fought it out to the line to take the top three spots (Matthew Armstrong 1st, Stephen Irvine 2nd, David Dickson 3rd & Stephen Cunningham 4th). Scott was our first KCC rider home in 5th with Jill McClements only a few bike lengths behind him in 6th place. WELL DONE & thank you to all racing, Marshalls and for those who made and supplied the food etc afterwards.

Saturday was to a be a hard day for some and our Andy Evans didn’t take it easy as he worked his way around the TOG event in not the best of conditions. We also had our 2nd week of the slower development ride out with great numbers attending long with some old (Paula Parker 🙂 ) & new faces making an appearance.

Sunday was a very busy day for many of our members as there was off & open road racing, with Andy McCullough & Michael Harkin driving to Omagh to compete for our wee club and they didn’t disappoint, as they both finished top 4 & 5 respectively earning them points towards the next level of racing.
Scott along with all his family and the Armstrong family all headed to Djouice Woods near Brae to compete in the 2nd round of the Irish XC series. And boy did they do well, with all of them finishing within the top 4 out of all their classes.
Elliot making his return to competition is starting to get the buzz of being at the front and riding with his elbows out (just like his dad) by taking his first win of the series.
Reuben made a good start, but he had to work hard to hold his lead and take the win.
Drew had a big field of riders in his class, however it didn’t deter him as he fought wheel to wheel on every lap to come home 4th and gain more points.
Scott had a more difficult race in S2 as the field was full of big named riders from road, enduro and DH, so he knew it wasn’t going to be an easy race, however he worked hard and it paid off as he came home in 2nd place and some glassware to add to his tally of medal etc.

KCC development ride on Sunday afternoons is booming and within the space of 3 weeks we have seen an incredible difference in discipline, structure and etiquette out on the road amongst these riders and this is all thanks to those more experienced riders giving up their time to help this newly formed ride develop and progress to where these lesser experienced riders want to progress and develop their skill too.

Finally – we now have two small bikes for members to use in promoting the club into getting our children out on coaching sessions and family rides, so please feel free to ask for these to any committee member.