Winners & Losers at Falls UCX race

The weather wasn’t playing ball all week with heavy rain and strong winds, however when Sunday arrived the sun was out and the sky was clear. The only downside to this was the ground was very wet and slippy, which would make for good racing and heavy legs due to the amount of leaves, grass and gutters that was being accumulated to the bikes on every off section.
However all the rain and the weeks poor weather prior to race day didn’t stop seven (7) KCC riders attending the event to proudly race in the well known Black & Orange kit.
First off was Elliot in the under 8’s and he started not too bad, however fell back a bit and called it a day early as he wasn’t on form and was feeling the cold.

Next was his older and the ever more confident Reuben. This turned out to be a tight race for the wee star, as his closest rival for the league was pushing him all the way, however once again he came out on top and finished on the top step of the podium and in doing so won the overall series for the under 10’s.

In the under 12’s it was down to Rory McBride to try his best and he did as he pushed hard to finish the race in a course that was getting more and more torn up on every lap.

Daddy Maitland’s turn to hit the dirt, and as he was getting ready to race a few of the KCC members had turned up by this stage to encourage (or shout abuse) at the remaining riders. From the off he was dominate and held a respectable lead from start to finish, even though he was quoted “Massey Ferguson country”, this didn’t hinder him and he won the race along with the league equalling his eldest son by stepping on the podium top step.

Between Scott’s race and the CX ‘B’ race we all got together and had a bit of banter and chat, before it was time for Richard G & Rod McB to hit the dirt in their race. Richard started off well in the top 20 and was making ground every lap until he had a mechanical during lap 3 which made him DNF (I blame Scott for yelling abuse or encouragement at him as he passed). Rod was also going not too bad, however I think the smell of the food along the straight made him drift off course sometimes, either that or it was yelling at him his burger is near ready. He completed the course with a bike over twice the weight and with a smile on his face.

Now for the big race of the day, which attracted some big named riders from around the country (along with our very own Ross G)? From the start whistle it was clear to see Rodger Akien was out to mean business and this proved to be the case as he opened up a considerable lead to all his rivals on every lap, eventually finishing 2 laps ahead of Ross and over 3 1/2 mins ahead of 2nd place.

Finally KCC members and their spectators who attended all the series events would like to say a BIG thank you to the lady who kept them all fed, warm and well looked after Heather Maitland.
Roll on the Ulster Champs at Maghera on the 13th December.