Tour of The North on our doorstep & kids get into biking
What a feeling to have one of the biggest races in Northern Ireland pass through our wee hamlet of a village Killinchy on Easter Monday. KCC was asked to help marshal and our members didn’t disappoint by stepping up to the plate and taking on the roles as marshals in our area, and by doing this they were able to watch the blistering pace these riders were setting around the four laps of the Killinchy circuit, before heading of to the hill top finish at Bradshaws Brae.
Our club colours didn’t go unnoticed around the route and it was great to read the thanks and positive feedback on various media websites for our support during the event, and to this the committee would also like to pass on their thanks to those who supported the marshals and spectated.
TT season has kicked off, and Ardscc held their first race over the Donaghdee 5 mile circuit and the spoils went to Andrew Evans on taking the win from Ards rider W Gill – WELL DONE!!
Was it going to be called off, or do we bite the bullet and see who turns up for our first children’s coaching session of 2016 and thankfully we made the correct decision to go ahead with the event as it turned out 22 children in primary school ages came along to get a bit of basic tuition and coaching. We split the kids by classes and covered 4-5 different basic skills courses and at the end they all received a goody bag and a wee medal. The coaches would like to thank all those who supported the event as conditions were not ideal due to rain and wind, however it didn’t seem to phase those helping or the kids participating. Watch this space for the next event 😉
Prior to the coaching session we had two of our members attend the practise & seeding runs for the first round of the Vitus Firsttracks Enduro Cup at Castlewellan, both Scott and ‘Hill Repeat’ Drew Armstrong, got in plenty of practise and got their respective categories for the race day (Sunday 03/04/16)
They both had an early start time of 10.06, so it was up early and away to get set up. They both got of to good starts with Drew staying ahead of Scott on the timed sections and this didn’t change over the duration of all six stages. When all accumulated and times counted Scott stepped on to the podium for runner up on the Hardtail class whilst Drew finishing 7th in juniors & 46th overall out of 230 odd entries.
We’re not sure how many times one person can be forty years of age, however Laura kindly offered to have a pre birthday bash for our treasurer Jane in Belfast, but it was to be slightly different to any normal sort of birthday party, as the ladies were asked to wear some of their kit as they were all going cycling on a wee toast tours pedal bus (basically everybody pedals at once to keep it moving). And by the sounds of it, it turned out a great day with a few having more than a sore head this morning 😉
Finally you couldn’t half tell it is was Easter with many members being off on A/L as the strava widget counter was going crazy with all the miles being added daily, finishing with over 5600 miles in one week & loads covering over 100 mile rides in preparation for their respective cycling holidays coming soon.
