Andy proves tough to Beat as Banbridge riders brave the rough weather

Never to shy away though, 16 brave men and women took to the hard Lurgan Road in Dromore.

With Alan Towell’s team of dedicated marshals, there were almost more of them than cyclists. Still, as usual Alan did a great job with his team keeping all the racers safe in the horrid conditions.

Sara Glover was first out of the blocks followed by the ever quick Joe Penny, which wasn’t really fair on Sara, but still she stormed home in a great 33:07 on a rotten hilly course

Marty Fitzpatrick was out so see if he could set a new PB over the 10 mile with his newly purchased TT clip on bars and got within one second of his target time with a 28:26. The local cycle shops better watch out - a big demand on these bars is expected once it hits the social media sites (26 likes and counting already).

There were great performances by all on the night, Nathan Sturrock pulling out all the stops with a 26:08. He was closely follow by Phil Beattie with a 26:28 despite having to come to a complete stop behind a cattle trailer. The King of TT, Kev Wilson putting in a 25:38, a great time for a fair weather cyclist - or so he says.

Johnny Lyons and Jon Shepherd were battling hard with only two seconds between them, then Dave Lavery picked a great night to get his PB on the Lurgan Road with a 27:11.

However the quickest on the night, with a brilliant 24:59 was Andy Beattie.