Beattie In the Prizes at Bann Valley
Bann Valley Road Club promoted their annual Bann Valley Classic today in Clady near Portglenone.
Full fields competed in the two races with the A2 and A3 riders doing six laps of the rolling circuit (50 miles) and the A4s raced for five laps.
The A3 riders were given a generous four-minute start on a small group of A2s. Riders were surprised at this on the start line as the Bann Valley race was normally a massed start.
The big A3 group was aggressive from the start while the scratch group split early. At the finish Ollie Gribbon (Carn Wheelers) took the win from West Downs Paul Wilkinson and North Downs Chris Hunter. Paul Ferguson (North Down) was best of the scratch group in fouth around twenty seconds later. Bangor man Andrew McCullough (Kinning Cycles) was fifth, a great performance in his first road race for 8 years. Sixth was Mark Millar (Velo Cafe Magasin) with another North Down rider, Sean Carey seventh.
The A4 race was won by Craig Rae (Phoenix CC) but happiest man of the day was the fifth placed finisher Garth Beattie, scoring his best result so far.
It was a good afternoons racing thanks to Oliver Hunter and the Bann Valley team.
Brendan Kirk
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