Castlewellan Report

Here Morgan, what are you at jumping the gun like that....here's a report on the day anyway....
I can safely say that by all accounts, that was a fine days racing, hosted by the good people of XMTB.
The weather was stupendous for racing, with sunshine, cooling breezes and a generally dry day.
First up for MAD were Paddy, Nigel, Marks x2, Judith, Tom, Thomas, Melanie and Oisin (well, ok, he's from UCD but we'll claim him for today!) in the sports race of 2 laps. Nigel suffered his customary fate of multiple chain-breakages, does he really have that much power in his legs???
I saw Paddy finishing, he looked absolutely shattered but very pleased to have done so strongly. Judith remarked that this is the first event she's actually competed in, and finished, riding well to come in 2nd place in her category. Indeed, the women's sports sub-category was dominated by MAD, with Melanie winning!
At 1:30, the expert and junior cats rolled (sprinted) off the line for 4 gruelling laps of what was a fantastic circuit. MAD were represented by Morgan, Ryan, Marc, Noel, myself and Steve (juniors) The pace from the off was furious as riders jostled for position up the opening climbs before heading into the tight, technical singletrack. Having the clubmates and supporters (thanks Lorna, Geoff and Mick who travelled but didnt race) cheering you on made a huge difference and MAD were certainly vocal in their support. I wonder just how Mark Cosgrove managed to keep popping up at various points along the track, if only I could cover the ground that well while riding!
With the adrenaline, grit, pain, determination, exasperation and excitement of the race over, we all retreated to the new MAD marquee where we kicked back and rested for a while. The marquee was a most excellent idea, fortunately we didnt even have to erect the walls of it, such was the sunshine! Such is the definition of cooleness that is the MAD marquee, a certain WORC member was so overcome with envy that he tried to cover it with a WORC banner during photograph time. The homemade treats of carrot cake, chocolate cake and flapjacks went down a treat with the copious amounts of energy drinks and water being sipped as we relaxed in the sun.

MAD Results:
Sports
6th Oisin Boydell
10th Mark Cosgrove
12th Paddy O'Brien
19th Mark Cromie
24th Thomas Posar
26th Melanie Sparth
27th Tom Heavey
28th Nigel Sheckleton
29th Judith Maguire

Experts
8th Noel Carr
12th Ryan Sherlock
21st Marc Pierron
23rd Sean Downey
25th Morgan O'Connell


Juniors
6th Steve Scrivener


Thanks to all for coming out and supporting the club and the event, especially those who didn't race (or don't even cycle!) but made the trip anyway.
Next race is in Ballinastoe in 2 weeks time......see everyone there!

Sean