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Last Updated: 2 Apr 2018 - 8:45:17 PM |
Roger Aiken showed strong form in advance of the defence of his national cyclo cross title in early January when he was the clear winner of the Tymon Park Classic cross race near Tallaght yesterday. The Banbridge CC rider beat former multiple champion Robin Seymour (Team WORC) by 39 seconds to win the eight lap, off-road race, with Niall Davis (IMBRC) a further 1 minute and 25 seconds back in third. Promising junior rider Alistair McSorley (Apollo CC) was fourth, 3 minutes and 9 seconds behind Aiken and just 1 minute and 5 seconds off the podium place of Davis.
James McCluskey (Team WORC) and veteran Robert Lamont (XMTB) were fifth and sixth, while Shane Baker (Usher IRC), Owen Jeffries (Rock/Masi), Peter McConville (Newry Wheelers) and Keith Meghen (Team WORC) completed the top ten.
Following the underage event, a total of 49 riders lined out for the main race at 1 pm. Rostrevor winner Niall Davis led the riders away but by the end of the first lap, Seymour had reached the front and brought them through. He and Aiken then pulled clear from the rest of the field with the latter, a stage winner in this year’s FBD Insurance Ras, putting in an impressive burst at the start of the third lap to move clear alone.
By the end of the lap Seymour was six seconds down. He was pushing hard to reduce this deficit when he crashed coming out of the tight turn in the start/finish area. This cost him more time, as did another fall plus the complication of a broken brake calliper. However, while Seymour would have been much closer at the finish, he conceded afterwards that victory would have been unlikely. He will now do what he can over the next six weeks to try to reach the nationals in top condition.
While Seymour was undoubtedly disappointed to lose, as part of the race organisation he was satisfied with the first running of the race. “We were very happy with how today went,” he said. “The venue worked very well and we are very grateful to be able to use the park. I am still building form after taking a good break at the end of the season – I was quite tired so needed a few weeks off. The plan now is to head over to Belgium over the Christmas period and do some of the international cross races there. I don’t think I will ride the world championships this winter, but will do what I can to get into good shape for the nationals.”
Aiken prevented Seymour from taking what would have been his fourteenth consecutive title last winter and is likely to be his biggest obstacle at the nationals in six weeks time. The Banbridge CC rider has had a fine season, riding strongly in Belgium, winning the first stage of the FBD Insurance Rás and showing good form throughout 2005. While his heavy programme of road racing seemed to impact on his performances in mountainbike events this year, yesterday’s showing shows that he is in fine cyclo-cross form.
“I was racing in Belgium recently, doing some of the cross races there,” he said. “Next week I will go away as part of the Commonwealth Games squad…I got my place on the team when I got the world ranking points for the Rás stage win. The Games are a big target for next season.”
“I’ll probably do some more races in Belgium before the nationals. I think I have some way to go before I am in top form for it, so will keep working hard. I felt okay today…there was a good gap at the end but Robin lost some of that time due to the brake problem he had.”
Aiken is likely to continue his road career in Belgium again next season. “That’s the most likely plan, although have to see if I can get more time off work. They gave me leave this year; I have to see if that is possible again.”
Others who impressed yesterday were Davis, two minutes and 4 seconds off the winning pace, plus fourth-placed Alistair McSorley, who was a lap ahead of the next junior rider. “Alistair has improved a lot in the past season,” said Seymour. “He would probably have been a lap down last year, but has come on a lot. He’s pretty promising. Unfortunately there isn’t a huge amount of young riders coming up through the ranks but hopefully that will improve in the future. It would be great to get more numbers and be able to run regular underage events.”
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Tymon Park Classic, Tymon Park, Tallaght:
1, Roger Aiken (Banbridge CC, S1) 39 mins 10 secs
2, Robin Seymour (Team WORC, S1) at 39 secs
3, Niall Davis (IMBRC, S1) at 2 mins 4 secs
4, Alistair McSorley (Apollo CC, Junior) at 3 mins 9 secs
5, James McCluskey (Team WORC, S2) at 3 mins 44 secs
6, Robert Lamont (XMTB, Vet) at 3 mins 52 secs
7, Shane Baker (Usher IRC, S1) at 4 mins 16 secs
8, Owen Jeffries (Rock/Masi, S1) at 4 mins 31 secs
9, Peter McConville (Newry Wheelers, Vet) at 4 mins 44 secs
10, Keith Meghen (Team WORC, S2) at 5 mins
Other (club names not provided in official results):
11, Neill Delayaye (S1) at 5 mins 7 secs
12, Mick Jordan (Vet) at 5 mins 15 secs
13, Conor Campbell (S2) at 5 mins 42 secs
14, Joe McCall (S2) at 1 lap
15, Brian Conway (S3)
16, Robert Moore (S1)
17, Evan Ryan (S3)
18, Mark Kenny (S2)
19, Peter O'Farrell (S2)
20, John Oram (S3)
21, Dave O'Brien (S3)
22, William Mulligan (Vet)
23, Drew McKinley (S2)
24, Colm Bracken (S1)
25, Anthony Hare (S2)
26, Gareth Maguire (S3)
27, Mike Steed (S1)
28, Leslie Walpole (Vet)
29, Barry Donnelly (S2)
30, Craig Brady (S3)
31, Stuart Galloway (S3)
32, Paul Anderson (Vet)
33, Fred McSorley (Vet)
34, Luke Manning (S3)
35, James Lattimore (S2)
36, Dave O'Neill (S3)
37, Jon Runciman (Vet)
38, Eamon McConvey (Vet)
39, Colm Farrell (S2)
40, Tarja Owens (women)
41, Dave Barry (S3)
42, Karl Elliott (S2) all at 1 lap
43, Barry Keogh (S3) 2 laps
44, John Walker (S3)
45, Art MacManus (S2)
46, Maurice Mayne (Vet)
47, Dwayne Williams (S3)
48, Eamonn Welton (Vet)
49, David Askin (S3) all at 2 laps
Categories:
Senior 1:
1, Roger Aiken (Banbridge CC) 39 mins 10 secs
2, Robin Seymour (Team WORC) at 39 secs
3, Niall Davis (IMBRC) at 2 mins 4 secs
4, Shane Baker (Usher IRC) at 4 mins 16 secs
5, Owen Jeffries (Rock/Masi) at 4 mins 31 secs
6, Niall Delayaye (IMBRC) at 5 mins 7 secs
7, Robert Moore (Stamullen Martin Donnelly) at 1 lap
8, Colm Bracken (Murphy Surveyors)
9, Mick Steed (Murphy Surveyors) all at 1 lap
Senior 2:
1, James McCluskey (Team WORC) 42 mins 54
2, Keith Meghen (Team WORC) at 1 min 16 secs
3, Conor Campbell (Newry) at 1 min 58 secs
4, Joe McCall (Team WORC) at 1 lap
5, Mark Kenny (Team WORC)
6, Peter O'Farrell (unattached)
Other:
7, Drew McKinley
8, Anthony Hare
9, Barry Donnelly
10, James Lattimore
11, Colm Farrell
12, Karl Elliott, all at 1 lap
13, Art MacManus, at 2 laps
Senior 3:
1, Brian Conway (IMBRC) 40 mins 5
2, Evan Ryan (unattached) at 57 secs
3, John Oram (IMBRC) at 1 min 19 secs
4, Dave O'Brien (IMBRC) at 1 min 20 secs
5, Gareth Maguire (IMBRC) at 2 mins 18 secs
6, Craig Brady (Team WORC) at 2 mins 59 secs
Other:
7, Stuart Galloway, at 3 mins 14 secs
8, Luke Manning, at 3 mins 46 secs
9, Dave O'Neill, at 3 mins 59 secs
10, Dave Barry, at 5 mins 59 secs
11, Barry Keogh, at 2 laps
12, John Walker
13, Dwayne Williams, both at 2 laps
14, David Askin, DNF
Veterans:
1, Peter McConville (Newry) 43 mins 54 secs
2, Mick Jordan (IMBRC) at 31 secs
3, William Mulligan (Banbridge CC) at 1 lap
4, Leslie Walpole (IMBRC)
5, Paul Anderson (Banbridge)
6, Fred McSorley (Apollo)
Other:
7, Jon Runciman
8, Eamon McConvey all at 1 lap
9, Maurice Mayne 2 laps
10, Eamonn Welton 4 laps
Women:
1, Tarja Owens (Team WORC) 44 mins 49 secs
Junior:
1, Alister McSorley (Apollo) 42 mins 19 secs
2, Liam McGreevy, at 1 lap
3, Diarmuid Cronin
4, Sean Downey, both at 1 lap
Underage:
1, Lorcan Davoust (Under 16) 19 mins 30 secs
2, Mark Heneghan (Under 16) at 19 secs
3, Aaron Buggle (Under 16) at 24 secs
4, Harriet Mayne (Under 14) at 4 mins 43 secs
5, Rachel Mayne (Under 12)
6, Annig Birdy (Under 12)
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