Annaclone GP this Saturday

Thursday, February 21, 2013
The Ballymena Road Club – Chain Reaction Cycles – racing section will see if all their pre-season training has been good enough when they take part in this Saturday’s, 23rd February, Travers Engineering, Annaclone Grand Prix road races in County Down.
This is always a very popular event with its relatively short distance and handicap format making it very attractive for the first outing of the new season. Pre-registration will be first come first served and will close at midnight on Wednesday 20th February. In the likely event of a full subscription a reserve list will also be in operation. Those on the reserve list will be notified by email.
There will be two races, with the main event catering for first, second and third category seniors and juniors. This will be held in a handicapped format with a small advantage given to each category.
Race two, for fourth cats, will also be 40 miles, but in a mass start, non-handicapped, scratch event. The entry fee is £10 for senior riders and £5 for juniors. Registration can be secured by emailing Race organiser Aaron Wallace at aarwallace@gmail.com
Signing on will be from 10 am until 11:30 am sharp at the Hawthorn Inn, Annaclone. Riders who have pre-registered but have not signed on by 11:30 am will forfeit their place to those on the reserve list.
Both races will start at 12 noon from the Hawthorn Inn
Last season Banbridge cycling club had an entry of over one hundred for the two races. The race was held over five laps of the eight miles course with an overall handicap of five minutes at the start. Junior rider, Daniel Stewart (East Antrim) took the honours.
Ballymena Road Club’s best finisher was Chris Beattie who was just inside the top twenty at the finish, Ryan Connor also completed the race, finishing with the remnants of the scratch group. The A4 race came down to a bunch gallop which resulted in another win for East Antrim when Peter Kennedy held off the pack with a very powerful finishing effort.
Phoenix cycling club promote their Phoenix Grand Prix road races this Sunday 24th February at Nutts Corner.  Sign-on, for those who had their entry accepted, will be in the Crumlin Community Centre (BT29 4UP) from 9:30. The sign-on fee is £12 for everyone except juniors who pay £6.
I understand that several Ballymena Road Club - Chain Reaction Cycles – riders have already entered for this race. The BRC entrants include Michael Carroll, Quinton McFall, Matthew Brennan,  Karl Taylor, Ryan Bankhead and David Dougan.
Course details: The course will be the usual Nutt’s Corner, Seven Mile Straight, Long Rig Road course finishing at the top lay-by. 
There will be five races, with events for: Women & over 50's: The "A” race is for A1, A2 seniors and which is handicapped and will be 6 laps in distance, approximately 50 miles. A3 race. There will be a separate A3 race over 5 laps, 42 miles. The A4 race will be a scratch race and will be 4 laps in distance, 34 miles overall.