Harvey Vs Dawson is big battle at Ulster Champs, Doherty (16) claims elite women's gold | Sticky Bottle

*Aine Doherty has won the Ulster elite women's title in her first year as a junior rider (Photo: Toby Watson)*

Dean Harvey (Spellman Dublin Port) and Christopher Dawson, neé McGlinchey, (Spectra Wiggle p/b Vitus) put on a great show today at the front of the elite men's race in the Ulster Cyclocross Championships. While it looked like Harvey was riding away to gold, Irish champion Dawson came back hard at the 19-year-old.

In the women's main event, Aine Doherty (VC Glendale) stormed to her first elite provincial title; claiming gold by just over five minutes for Elena Wallace (Harps Cycling Club), with Caroline Martinez (Chainreaction Cycles) winning the bronze.

In the men's race, Harvey prevailed over Dawson to win gold while Darnell Moore (Caldwell Cycles) was 3rd; the medals going to the three riders who made up the Irish men's team at last weekend's UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Dublin.

Dawson went into an early lead on the opening lap of seven in the Kinning Cycles promotion at Mallusk Playing Fields, Belfast. He took five seconds out of Harvey on the opening lap and 19 on Moore as a much bigger gap opened up to the best of the rest in the field.

On the second lap, Harvey held the gap to Dawson at five seconds. However, on lap three Harvey put in the fastest lap of the race - 7:59 - to catch Dawson and pull ahead of him by a couple of seconds. From there, another six seconds were added to the gap on the fourth lap and it looked like Harvey would ride away to win solo, as he has done so often this season.

However, Dawson is not Irish champion and an international rider for nothing; digging in on the fifth lap to close the eight seconds to Harvey before passing him and just pressing clear of him, by a couple of seconds.

Harvey responded with the second fastest lap of the race - 8:01. That cancelled out the small advantage held by Dawson and added 10 seconds; Harvey leading Dawson by that margin as the final lap commenced. The lone leader added another five seconds to his gap on the final passage of the circuit, emerging victorious by 15 seconds from Dawson.

Behind the winner and runner-up, Moore placed 3rd at 3:37, with the the top three the only riders, in what was a small field, to complete all seven laps.

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In the women's race, young Doherty rocketed into an early lead and never looked back in the four-lap event. The VC Glendale rider was 1:12 up on eventual runner-up Wallace at the end of the opening lap, with Martinez and Zoe Lindsay (TC Racing) battling it out for 3rd place.

Doherty continued to plough away out front, adding just over two minutes to her advantage over Wallace on the second and third laps. That gap grew by almost two more minutes on the last lap, with her winning advantage some 5:19 at the chequered flag. Martinez was 3rd at 8:46.

In the junior men's race, Seth Dunwoody (Shelbourne Orchard CC) held off a late charge from national road race champion Oisin Ferrity (Island Wheelers) to win the title by six seconds. After five laps of racing, Curtis Neill (Carn Wheelers) was 3rd, at 1:57.

The Masters 40 event was another close contest; race promoter Glenn Kinning (Kinning Cycles) winning by just four seconds from Alan Bingham (Newry Wheelers), who put in a huge effort over the final two laps. Barry Convery (Newry Wheelers) was 3rd at 2:41.