Castledawson club plays host toUlster cyclists

To honour the success of Ulster cyclists young and old, off road also on, Maurice Foster MBE, Alan Mark, chairman of the NICF, and Rory Wyley, president of Cycling Ireland were amongst the guests.

The proceedings were opened by Tommy Lamb,chairman of Cycling Ulster, who welcomed everyone and hoped they enjoyed the evening.

He also paid tribute to the hard work and dedication shown by the senior riders, both men and women, across all the disciplines, and mentioned the young cyclists who had just taken up the sport. A number of sponsors were also thanked for their continued support of Cycling Ulster.

Martin Grimley and Marion Lamb acted as MCs for the evening while various trophies were presented by Alan Mark, Ryan Connor and Rory Wylie.Stephen Burns represented SportActive and was on hand to present the Martin Birney SportActive Award to the riders.

Thanks was extended to Martin Lees for organising the event also arranging the medal and trophy engraving.

The final presentation of the evening was that for Volunteer of the Year.

This award was sponsored by Martin Birney of SportActive and the receipient for 2013 was announced as Dany Blondeel of Ards Cycling Club for his sterling work on the Belgian Project which provides opportunities for young cyclists to race in Belgium.

Rory Wyley then closed the proceedings by thanking Cycling Ulster for the opportunity to attend this function in Castledawson.

He went on to praise the work of Cycling Ulster executive which he said continues to be progressive and was delighted to see the growth of new clubs in the Province, and also that these developed and took on major projects.

The speaker mentioned the excellent promotion of the International Youth Tour by Errigal Cycling Club and praised Carn Wheelers of Maghera for taking on the 2013 Tour Of Ulster.

Indeed,the latter had a great share of prize winners on this night.