Heading the field: Niall Davis leads the way towards his eventual victory at Dodder Valley yesterday (All photos by Sean Rowe)

Niall Davis best in Dodder Valley cyclocross

Niall Davis and Maeve O'Grady emerged with victory at the end of the cyclocross action at Dodder Valley Park in south Dublin yesterday.

Promoted by Epic MTB-Expert Cycles, Davis won the men's main event by 40 seconds from Adam McGarr. Robin Seymour overcame mishap to take the final place on the podium.

It was nip and tuck between Davis and McGarr on the opening couple of laps with the latter getting the faster start.

And while they were battling for supremacy at the head of affairs, Seymour was just behind.

Going out onto the third lap the two leaders were neck in neck. But it was on that third lap, of eight, that Davis began to press on.

He put a modest gap between himself and McGarr on that third lap, though the contest remained close on lap four; the two out front lapping in exactly the same time.

But once the race reached the halfway mark, Davis (Biking.ie) got ahead. He put eight, nine, 10 and 13 seconds into McGarr (Biking.ie) on the final four laps for a clear win in the end.

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Maeve O'Grady wins the women's race and David Hayes takes victory in the men's B race.

Just behind McGarr, Seymour was closing in but suffered a puncture before his flat tubular rolled. He would hold on for 3rd place, some 56 seconds down on teenager McGarr.

Some 19 seconds behind Seymour (Team Worc) was Glenn Kinning of Kinning Cycles. And another eight seconds behind him, Paul O’Reilly if UCD-FitzCycles.ie would round out the top five.

In the women’s race O’Grady (Unattached) and Caoimhe May (Scott Orwell) made the best start.

However, it was the eventual winner who was able to keep it going. And while May was caught and passed by Lucy O’Donnell (O’Leary Stone Kanturk) and Mary Dawson (Bray Wheelers), O’Grady continued to add to her lead.

She was matched by May on the opening lap but proved fastest of the field on the remaining four circuits.

And while O’Donnell gave a good account of herself chasing down O’Grady, she was 20 seconds back at the finish.

The final result was a close one, with Dawson another 16 seconds back and May in 4th place some 1:21 down on the winner.

The men’s B race was also close with David Hayes (Bikeworx) winning the six-lap contest by 25 seconds from Fearghal Regan (Murphy Surveys Kilcullen).

And rounding out the podium was John McGettigan of Lucan CRC, some 23 seconds behind runner-up Regan.