GB’s Houvenaghel wins Belfast ‘UCI Celtic Chrono TT’; Mel Spath best of the Irish

Class act: Celtic Chrono winner Houvenaghel rolls off the start ramp (Photo: Marian Lamb – Cycling Ulster)

Olympic silver medallist and former World Track Champion, Wendy Houvenaghel (Ricci Chain) has taken victory in the UCI registered Celtic Chrono TT in Belfast, with 30 seconds to spare over Russian Olga Zabelinskaya (Rusvelo).

Houvenaghel, the Northern Irish athlete who rides for GB, stormed around the 22 mile course in 48:35.09

A world class rider, Houvenaghel has a string of track medals at Worlds and Olympics to her name. Most recently, she won silver in the World Track Championships in Melbourne at the 3km pursuit and was a Worlds gold medallist last year for GB in the team pursuit.

She was also a silver medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, taking that podium in the 3km pursuit. She was favourite for today’s event and did not disappoint.

Best of the Irish riders today was Mel Spath (Cycleways) in 9^th place, in a time of 52:16:68 followed by World Track Championship points race bronze medallist Caroline Ryan (Garda CC), who was 11^th today in a time of 52:54:97. National road race champion Siobhan Horgan (GSD Gestion) was third quickest Irish rider, placing 15^th in a time of 53:50:72.

Ireland’s Cathal Miller was fastest paracyclist in a time of 50:41:93.

The riders were greeted by breezy but dry conditions, with the UCI 1.2 race starting and finishing in the Stormont Estate. The event was run by BNG Sports Management with the support of DCAL, Sport Northern Ireland as well as NITB, Belfast City Council, Castlereagh Borough Council and Ards Borough Council.

National TT champ and Worlds bronze medallist Caroline Ryan in Celtic Chrono action (Photo: Stephen Prentice)

Irish road race champ gave it a very good go against the clock today (Photo: Stephen Prentice)

Colin Lynch in action today in his World Champion skin suit (Photo: Stephen Prentice)

Celtic Chrono, Belfast 22 miles

Full Result

1	WENDY HOUVENAGHEL	RICCI CHAIN	England	0:48:35.090
2	OLGA ZABELINSKAYA	RUSVELO	Russia	0:48:57.380
3	HANKA KUPFERNAGEL	RUSVELO 2	Germany	0:49:40.660
4	PIA SUNDSTEDT	FINLAND	Finland	0:50:26.350
5	JULIA SHAW	DRAG2ZERO	England	0:51:09.650
6	PATRICIA SCHWAGER	SWITZERLAND	Switzerland	0:51:36.650
7	Brulee Latoya	TOPSPORT	Belgium	0:51:42.220
8	PASCAL SCHINDER	SWITZERLAND	Switzerland	0:52:13.220
9	MEL SPATH	CYCLEWAYS	Ireland	0:52:16.680
10	Lina-Kristin SCHINK	TEAM GSD	Germany	0:52:22.240
11	CAROLINE RYAN	GARDA CC	Ireland	0:52:54.970
12	Thrude Natholmen	Sandefjord SK	Norway	0:52:59.660
13	Pauliena ROOIJAKKERS	DOLMANS	Netherlands	0:53:04.370
14	EMMA TROTT	DOLMANS	England	0:53:11.550
15	SIOBHAN HORGAN	TEAM GSD	Ireland	Related News Lara Gillespie attacks Dolomite stage as Giro hits high mountains Video - Ireland's Meehan climbs with best on brutal Alpine terrain 0:53:50.720
16	Cecilie Johansen	HI TEC	Norway	0:54:25.120
17	JANE KILMARTIN	PEDALE DES EAU VIVES GENEVE	Ireland	0:54:32.210
18	EVE McCrystal	GARDA CC	Ireland	0:55:19.760
19	SARAH ORTIZ	BLACK ROSE RACING	Spain	0:55:37.320
20	HEATHER Wilson	MARYLAND	Ireland	0:55:38.640
21	LAUREN CREAMER	ABERGAVENNY ROAD CLUB	Ireland	0:55:51.680
22	JENNIFER DUFFY	BRAY WHEELERS	Ireland	0:57:28.380
23	ORLA HENDRON	ORWELL	Ireland	0:58:04.810
24	Mary Hunter	Dromara CC	Ireland	0:59:41.990
25	CELINE McPhillips	CUCHULAINN	Ireland	1:01:25.970
26	TONYA MORAN	CYCLING ULSTER	Ireland	1:01:34.860
27	FIONA COOKE	LEINSTER	Ireland	1:01:43.850
28	THERESE SMYTH	PHOENIX CC	Ireland	1:01:45.650
29	CLAIRE FRASER	GUYANA	Guyana	1:02:40.590
30	Sinead Rivers	Roe Valley	Ireland	1:02:41.380
31	SARAH PINER	BLACK ROSE RACING	Ireland	1:02:50.100
32	Rachael Withers	West Tyrone Velo-Fintona	Ireland	1:03:50.250
33	SHEILA CRONIN	GARDA CC	Ireland	1:04:48.750
34	LOUISE FULLERTON	BALLYMENA	Ireland	1:08:20.320
	AMY BRICE	PHOENIX CC	Ireland

Paracyclist Result