Darnell Moore (Caldwell Cycles) has taken the elite men's Ulster Cyclocross Championships on a day when fellow Irish international Elena Wallace (Harps CC) took the women's elite gold.
Aliyah Rafferty (Tofauti Everyone Active) stormed back into cyclocross action with a big win today, adding the Ulster junior title to the elite crown she took at the National Cyclocross Championships last season.
Curtiss McKee (Spellman Dublin Port) continued his very strong 2024-25 cyclocross season by claiming the junior men's crown ahead of Cameron Henry (Inspired Cycling) and Ashton Moore (Strabane Lifford Cycling Club).
In the men's elite race - promoted by Foyle Cycling Club in St Colomb's Park, Derry - Moore went about his business with urgency from the first of the six laps. By the time the first of the circuits was done he had already put a big deposit down on the gold medal as he was clear by almost one minute on his own.
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Though he was chased by Graham Boyd (McConvey Cycles), Jonny Adams (McConvey Cycles) and James Gordon (Phoenix CC), former national champion was simply too good for his rivals today; adding more and more to his advantage as the laps ticked down.
On the line he was just short of five minutes up on the silver medal winner Boyd while Adams was another two minutes back, claiming bronze, some 1:26 up on Gordon in 4th.
In the women's race, Rafferty emerged the winner from the combined junior and senior field, but was awarded the junior gold medal while Wallace was 2nd and took senior gold.
As was the case in the men's race, Rafferty got stuck in from the gun; her lack of cyclocross racing in recent months clearly not holding her back. She put approximately 30 seconds into her closest rival each lap and after five laps was almost three minutes up on Wallace.
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Trudy Brown (VC Glendale) was 3rd with Rachel Newell (McConvey Cycles) in 4th and Laura Birley (Unattached Ulster) rounding out the top five on the day.
In the junior men's race, the pattern was the same as in the senior events; eventual winner McKee getting clear of the opposition early and continuing to build his advantage through the five-lap event.
On the line he had 1:36 on runner-up Henry, with Moore in 3rd, then Mark Molloy (Dunloy CC) and Robbie McCullough (Unattached Ulster), with David McClean (Dunloy CC) in 6th.
In the Masters 40 men's race - which boasted by far the biggest field on the day - former elite international rider Glenn Kinning (Kinning Cycles) won the day from Barry Kellett (Dromara CC) and Darragh McCarter (Spellman Dublin Port).
Though Kellett got the better start, Kinning got into his groove on the 2nd lap of six and never looked back. At the chequered flag he had 1:07 in hand on runner-up Kellett while McCarter claimed the bronze at 3:55.
In the Masters 50 race, the Ulster crown went to Alan Bingham (Inspired Cycling) after a tight battle with Barry Convery (Newry Wheelers) and Jason Henry (Inspired Cycling).
Bingham won the day by 14 seconds from Convery, with Henry taking bronze only six seconds back. Declan McEntee (Emyvale CC) was also right in the mental hunt through the race and missed out on bronze by just one second.
The Masters 60 event was won by Kevin McDowell (Unattached Ulster) from Francis Quigley (Foyle CC) and Derek Patterson (Unattached). The U16 boys race was won by Caleb McGreevy (VC Glendale) and James Mackey (Foyle CC).
