Off-road news – upcoming events in Ulster

A busy time ahead for the off-road cyclists with the last round of the Ulster XC Series on this Sunday at Craigavon, the upcoming National Marathon Championships at Kilbroney the following weekend and then there is cyclo-cross.

Ulster XC Round 5 - Craigavon - Sunday 7 September 2014
The fifth and final round of the Ulster Mountain Bike Cross-country series will take place on Sunday 7 September 2014 at Craigavon Lakes. Headquarters will be in Craigavon Water sports centre and the event will be hosted by Apollo CT.
The course if fairly flat and very fast. It takes in large sections of the trail centre as well as the rough track around the lakes as well the grass hill near the start / finish. Pre-registation closes on Friday 5 September 2014 at 8pm. No payment required. Pay on the day. Riders are asked to pre-register in order to sort out the numbers for catering and for the administration of the races. Gridding will be based on the Ulster XC series table but only for those who pre-register. See www.ulsterxc.com for details.

National Mountain Bike Marathon Championships - Sunday 14 September 2014
Summit Mountain Biking along with Cycling Ireland's Off-road Commission have teamed up to host the 2014 National Marathon Championships at Kilbroney on Sunday 14 September 2014. This will be the first time the Irish National MTB Marathon Championships will be held in Northern Ireland and what better place to have it than at Kilbroney in Rostrevor County Down. The race will be based at the popular MTB trails and will consist of a mixture of trail centre trails, natural forest singletrack and open mountain trails. The full course will cover two laps of a figure of 8 over a distance of 70 km with a total of 1,600 metres of elevation. The Championship categories are strictly pre-entry only for riders aged 18 and over with IRL on their UCI number. Pre-entry closes on Thursday 11 September 2014 at 8 pm - fee £26.

The support 'fun' race will cover 27 km of the Red Trail and is open to all who don't want to do the full 70 km distance but still love the challenge of a race event! Pre-entry is available but you can still sign up on the day. Fee £15 - age limit 16 and over. All details including the route and registration information can be found on this website.

Autumn is approaching which means cyclo-cross season! With a full calendar in Ulster as well as races in other parts of Ireland the off-road cyclist will be kept busy. The season kicks off on the first week in October with Round 1 at Lurgan Park hosted by Apollo CT. Different clubs then take their turn each Sunday at different locations across Ulster. As before there will be support races for Under 6s up to Under 16s, mountain bikes and then three cross races, Mens A race, Mens B race and Women's race.

As a lead into the season the Cycling Ulster Off-road Commission is putting on a cyclo-cross training day at Lurgan Park on Sunday 28 September 2014.

This session is open to riders aged 16 and over in possession of a cyclo-cross bike. More details about the training day and the season ahead can be found on the dedicated website www.ulstercyclocross.com.