Workman-like performance from Steven

STEVEN Workman made a winning debut on his new time trial bike at last Wednesday evening's Ballymena Road Club–Scott Roof Tiles 10 miles time trial at Woodgreen.

Steven, a newcomer to the club last year, recorded a personal best time of 21 minutes 41 seconds to take 1 minute 19 seconds off his previous best performance and beat second placed Philip Bremner by 11 seconds.

Junior rider Matthew Brennan took third place, his time of 22 minutes 31 seconds was also a "PB" by 67 seconds.

Derek Dougan, in fourth place with 23.23, was fastest veteran. Another veteran, John McAllister showed the biggest improvement on the night to win the handicap with a nett time of 22.24.

RESULTS

Fastest: (1) Steven Workman 21.41 (2) Philip Bremner 21.52 (3) Matthew Brennan 22.31 (4) Derek Dougan 23.23 (5) Tommy Wilson 23.26 (6) Jim Burns 23.47 (7) David Dougan 24.13 (8) Adrian Kerr 24.22 (9) David Kennedy 25.17(10) John McAllister 25.30(11) Martin McKernan 25.35(12) Clive Morris 26.15 (13) Steven Carruthers 26.39 (14) John Maxwell 26.59 (15) Hugh McCullough 27.00 (16) Geoff Bell 27.14 (17) Maurice Carruthers 27.17 (18) Beresford Millar 27.54 (19) Maeve Savage 28.34 (20) Joanne Kee 29.53.

Handicap result: (1) McAllister 22.24 (2) Bremner 22.38 (3) Workman 22.41 (4) Brennan 22.53 (5) David Dougan 23.07 (6) Morris 23.21

Visitors: (1) Martin Robb (Bann Valley) (2) A Graham 25.25 (3) W Orr (Ards) 25.27

LADIES' LEAGUE OUTING

The Ballymena Road Club 10 miles time trial at Woodgreen also doubled up as the first round of the Ulster Women's Association time trial league series.

It was ironic that one of the main promoters of the women's league, Louise Fullerton, missed the event as she was along with the BRC touring party which, at that stage, was still on the Mediterranean island of Majorca.

Best for Ballymena Road Club were Maeve Savage and Joanne Kee who were seventh and eighth respectively.

TIME TRIAL LEAGUE

It was back to Woodgreen again on Thursday night for the Cycling Ulster time trial league 10 miles time trial league event.

BRC rider Conor McAllister managed to fit in this event between a busy schedule which saw him race in France and Holland last week before heading away again to Italy this week.

Conor made full use of his trip home to record a super fast time of 20 minutes 29 seconds on what was quite a cold evening. This gave him 47 seconds to spare over second placed Colm Cassidy's 21.16 with Gary Cranston another 3 seconds slower in third place.

Other Ballymena performances were: (21) Matthew Brennan 22.49 (32) Mark McCullough 23.23 (33) Chris Beattie 23.24 (50) Adrian Kerr 25.02 (51) Stephen McNeilly 25.04.

Ballymena's Darrell Erwin (Ulster Hand cycling Association) recorded a time of 35 minutes 00 seconds which beat the standard Irish record time for this event which had been set at 36 minutes.

Philip Bremner took part in the Peter Bidwell Memorial 35 miles race on Saturday night in Drogheda. He was the only BRC rider in this event and his top 15 placing gave him second position amongst the senior A2 category riders.

Then on Sunday Philip, along with Ryan Connor and Leo McAllister, took part in the Coombes Connor memorial 75 miles road race, again in Drogheda.

Philip said “Ryan and I were in a chasing group most the day but we managed to catch the leaders near the end. I was 3rd A2 rider and finished round 12th overall, Ryan finished behind me and Leo finished in the bunch, the race was 75 miles and very windy.”

TOURING

Ballymena Road Club’s touring section cyclists held their first “away for the day” tours of the season last Sunday when committee member Pius McKernan organised a ride from his sister’s home at Mountfield near Omagh.

Conditions were wet to start with but soon dried up. The ride took in a 50 miles route around the narrow country lanes of West Tyrone and Fermanagh and went as far west as Ederney, close to lower Lough Erne, before heading back through Omagh to Mountfield.

Amongst the party were five of the club’s cyclists who had been delayed in Majorca earlier in the week. It was good to see that they hadn’t lost their appetite for touring. Many thanks to Pius, Marian and the Sweeney family for their hospitality and the post event meal; it was much appreciated by all there.

BRC’s ladies were also in action on Sunday when they took part in the SportActive Ulster Women Association Road Race League at the McCann cup events in Seskinore near Omagh.

Louise Fullerton finished in sixth place and she was pleased not only by her own performance but also by the improvement shown by both Maeve Savage and Joanne Kee who both finished with the leading riders.

CALENDAR

Wednesday 28th April. Slaght corner is the venue for tonight’s BRC club race where the club will hold an 18 miles Australian pursuit race over two laps of the Caddy circuit.

Marshalls. Race Secretary Tommy Wilson is the chief marshall for the event and he will be assisted by Gordon Caldwell, Maria Shannon, Adrian Kerr, Declan Butler, Alan McKee and Danny Butler.

Thursday 29th April. 10 miles time trial league, Ballydonaghy 7pm

Friday 30th April until Monday 3rd May Tour of Ulster.

Monday 3rd May. A club training ride and a second touring group ride will depart from Rex Bonar house at 9.30am.

RED HAND TROPHY

Ballymena Road Club’s “twin classic” event “The Blair International Transport Red Hand Trophy road race” will take place at Broughshane on Saturday 8th May at 11am.

All club members who aren’t taking part in the race are asked to volunteer their services to race secretary Tommy Wilson, who needs motor cycle marshalls, car drivers and static marshalls for the race, which is a round of the Ulster classic road racing league series.

YOUTH ROUND-UP

Dunclug College cyclist Craig Crawford of TSC Racing who was runner-up in the U-14 Ras na Nog Youth stage races. Craig finished 3rd in two stages and was involved in a seven bike smash in stage 3 where the top three riders were all involved.

Luckily for Craig he managed to get up and remount where he chased down the bunch and finished 9th only to be beaten by a point for overall when race leader Mark Downey who was also down in the crash got up and finished the stage.

Aaron Swan TSC Racing also finished 12th overall in the U-14 after the three stages and 2nd in the U-13. Next for the boys is the Corkman stage race where once again it will be a hard weekend of three stages in two days.

REGISTRATION

Ballymena Road Club’s membership currently stands at 139, which means that almost everyone, who needs to do so, has signed up.

Latecomers should note that the deadline for this year’s membership application will be at the May monthly meeting which is due to be held on Monday 10th May at Rex Bonar house.

PATSY'S FUND-RAISER

Don't forget that Ballymena Road Club’s touring committee chairman Patsy McGurk's first fund-raiser – a bag pack at Tesco, Larne Road – takes place this Saturday, May 1, ahead of his ambitious charity ride in November in Egypt.

The fundraising campaign which is for “Buy a brick, build a home for life.” aims to build a centre which will be purpose designed and built to meet the needs and demands of adults with learning difficulties.

If you can help Patsy by manning a till, even for an hour or two, or wish to donate, then contact him on 07764 765 100. Jim Mulholland and Andrea Kelly telephone 028 4461 7184 are event co-ordinators