Lady Dixon park in Belfast seen was the setting for Round 3 of the 2010 NPS which also doubled up for Round 1 of the “New Ulster cross country league” More details of this league can be found at www.ulsterxc.com.

The course itself was a mixture of parkland and fast flowing forest sections and with the recent dry spell was going to be a very quick race for everybody.  Banbridge cc was out in force with riders from youth to vets

After the underage races had took place it was the turn of the sports riders. Stephen Prentice was the only rider from the club to take to the start line for this race and for the first time this year racing against both his main rivals Martin Grimley (Dromara CC) Ronnie Ogilby (Xmtb.) When the whistle blew Stephen Prentice got the better start of his rivals into the first corner and moved up into 4th place overall, he proceed to hold this position for the first lap while Ronnie and Marty where never too far away.

By lap 2 he had dropped back to 6th place and stayed there till the end of the 3 lap race while keeping his sparing partners behind him. Having pushed so hard he was delighted with this result and was also the 3rd Ulster rider home putting him in a nice points position in the Ulster league.

Next race up was the Vets class where Banbridge CC had 5 riders in total taking part.  William Mulligan, Jonathan Buller, William Forsythe, Maurice Mayne and Paul Anderson.  From the off William Mulligan took off with his 2 main rivals, Paul Mc Menamin (Leisure Lakes) and Robert Lamont (Xmtb) This was going to be the race to watch as all three guys are aiming for the title at the end of the year. By the end of lap 1 nothing separated these guys, in fact they where racing so close rubbing off wheels could be heard in the tight forest sections. It wasn’t until the start of lap 3 when Paul McMenamin made his move and opened up a small gap on William and with every pedal stoke William tried he just couldn’t close the gap Paul had opened up. William was able to open a small gap on Robbie and this was the was way the race finished with William taking a very respectable 2nd place in this 6 lap race.

Jonathan Buller had a very close race with 2 riders from the south and for the whole race only second’s separated these 3 guys for the whole race only to be piped to the line by Philip Tighe (epic mtb).  Paul Anderson made a welcome return back to MTBing after taking some time out last year to get ready for the marathon. Maurice Mayne and William Forsythe all had a good race with each other throughout the whole race, some of the laps only seconds kept these guys apart, but as the race went on the different training style that Paul has been used to started to take its toll and started to fade as the laps went by but still managed to complete the race. William was able to open a gap on his rival and team mate Maurice and this gap proved very valuable to William as he got a puncture on the last lap but still managed to hold off Maurice to the finish line. Maybe if Maurice would have known his mate was in trouble he would have given that bit extra to pass him for the line. But there will be other days.

In the Junior race Matt Adair lined up against his main rival Robert Scanlon (Team worc). From the off young Matt took off and by the end of the first lap he had opened up a 30sec advantage over Robert. With each lap going by Matt continued taking time out of his Robert who this year to date has yet to get the better of young Matt. By lap 5 out of 6 Matt was over 2 minutes clear and on the last lap started to slow down as his lead couldn’t be taken bar an issue with the bike. Matt crossed the line with both hands in the air taking the win with 2 and a half minutes to spare making this his 3rd NPS race win out of 3 to date.

Report by Stephen Prentice

BANN YOUTH DOMINATE FIRST ROUND OF ULSTER LEAGUE

Meanwhile, in the fiercely competitive world of underage MTB riding the first round of the Ulster XC Mountain Bike League began with the under 8's, 27 keen young riders filled the start line. Banbridge CC 's Jack Baird had a great win over the 2 laps, with club-mate Chris Curry taking a fine second, leaving club-mate James Buller to complete the podium places for Banbridge and giving him his first medal, well deserved after a sprint finish for his third place. Banbridge CC’s other U8 Sam Baird did well to finish 19th in his first season of racing.

Mark Buller the only Banbridge rider in the U10's had a start to finish win over the 4 lap course, with Dromara CC's Drew Armstrong a fine second.

The U12's had a longer 3 lap course, taking in the gruelling long uphill section, Bann riders again performed well with John Buller taking the win and club-mate and good friend Richard Baird second. Shannon Buller rode well to take a brilliant fourth with Rachel Mayne completing the field for Bannbridge CC.

The U14's were set off after the Sports race, and had 2 laps of the main 3 mile course to complete. James Curry moved up from the U12's had a convincing win with Banns only other rider Joe Baird coming in a hard fought 6th place to complete a successful days racing for the Bannbridge CC Youth.