Chain Reaction Cycles Congratulate Local Riders
Riders from several local clubs were in attendance at Chain Reaction Cycles store on the Boucher Road in Belfast recently to be congratulated on their recent accolade in receiver their club BAR (Best-All Rounder) trophy at awards nights over the past few weekends.
Eileen Burns, Ivan Cooke, and Niall Brown respectively representing Ballymena Road Club, Kings Moss CC & Ards CC were in store to show off their silverware.
Store Manager, Stephen Laird stated that; ‘We invited the BAR winners from our local sponsored clubs into the store to day to recognise their fantastic commitment to the associated road and time trial events run by their clubs in 2017. We believe that closed club events are the cornerstone to competitive racing and testing in the road scene at a local level and the consistent performance by these three local riders deserves credit.’
Eileen Burns has had another successful year by not only winning the Ulster and Irish national time trial championships; but also consistently beating her own personal bests on previous years and dominating the Ballymena Road Club road races making her the first female overall BAR winner in the clubs history. A true inspiration for all female cyclists across the country. Eileen’s focus for 2018 will hopefully be representing Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast.
Ivan Cooke continued his dominance by winning the BAR for the third year in a row at Kings Moss CC by consistently performing well with the number of road races and time trials held by this club (who also celebrated their 95th anniversary this year). Ivan’s plans for 2018 are to focus on his open racing and to migrate from A3 to A2.
Niall Brown from Ards CC took club BAR for his first time in 2017 and focus in the new year will be some road races but primarily off road competing in cross country and enduro scene which has exploded in popularity over the past two seasons.
Chain Reaction’s commitment to local clubs over the past season has not only included title sponsorship of sixteen clubs but also providing event support in the form of neutral mechanical teams, goody bags to over 4500 participants at local events & provision of prizes to clubs at the end of season.
Scott Maitland from Killinchy Cycling Club (whose membership has grown to 130 since its inception in 2013) commented on support given from the Belfast store stating that, ‘Since CRC came on board they have helped members get started in cycling by loaning bikes and that in 2017 KCC ran its first road and cyclo-cross races with CRC supplying mechanical support & prizes.’
The store in Belfast has also been used by local clubs to run events from. Most recently where ten members from Kings Moss CC completed their Cycling Ireland Ride Leader course.
Davy Robinson, club secretary from Kings Moss Cycling Club commented that, ‘The members of KMCC are very thankful for Chain Reaction Cycles support over the past seven years. We have been very proud to work with CRC over the past few years from the opening of the shop originally in Doagh and then in Belfast, to helping provide campione riders during the events (such as the Big Italian Bike Ride in 2014) and ensuring we support our local store on the Boucher Road.
In return, we have received consistent help at our annual open Time trial and charity sportive. The work the mechanics from CRC do at loads of the sportives in the country is amazing – you can’t put a price on those CRC support vans turning up in the cold rain and someone jumping out to change a puncture for you!’
As part of their ongoing relationship with Cycling Ireland, Chain Reaction Cycles Belfast will be commencing an Affiliate Scheme in 2018. This will allow members of CI to obtain discount on in store purchases as well as being made aware of exclusive monthly deals.
Any Cycling Ireland affiliated club who wish to avail of this will need to register with the scheme by contacting Murray McKenna on-site in the Belfast store or by email Murray.mckenna@chainreactioncycles.com
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