Madden lifts Ulster 10 Title for fourth consecutive year

Cycling

BETWEEN Ballymena and Antrim on Sunday 60 plus riders rode the Ulster 10 mile time trial cycling Championship, with the quickest rider in his Veterans category being local man John Madden, Curran Racing/Bann Wheelers.

Fastest man over all in the senior section was John Heverin, Clann Eireann who had a time of 21.13 giving him 24 seconds on John Madden, the first veteran rider.

On hand was Martin Birney of sport Active to present trophies to Senior, Vet, Junior, Junior Woman, Woman, and Hand Cyclist.

This concludes a highly successful season for Madden which saw him lift the All Ireland Bronze medal for 25 miles in addition to becoming the Ulster 25 Time Trial Champion and now the 10 mile Champion in his Veterans class. Madden, who lives in Ballycastle, has been nominated for the North Antrim Sports Awards next month in recognition of his fabulous cycling season. Not only has Madden cleaned up at Ulster level in the Veterans Time Trial section of the sport but his last two championship rides have been fast enough to place him second in the senior race with only Heverin ahead of him on both occasions.

Madden has dominated the Veteran’s section of his favoured Time Trial event since he turned to cycling after 10 years as an international triathlete. During this time he won numerous All Ireland and Ulster triathlon titles and won a bronze medal at the World Age Group Championships in Muskoka, Canada, in 1992. Madden has now won the Ulster 10 and 25 Time Trial Championships a staggering four times in a row and shows no sign of slowing down yet!

Madden has also enjoyed considerable success on the local cycling scene. He has won many Time Trials and road races and came 2nd in the Ulster Veterans Road Race Championships and 7th in the All Ireland Championships. R

arely out of the top 10 in many open road races this year he cannot be far away from being one of only a hand full of Veteran cyclists in Ireland to have accumulated enough points to achieve A1 status.

Madden’s success has all been achieved whilst holding down a demanding job as Principal of Roddensvale School in Larne. Madden is married with two children aged 9 and 11.

Madden said: “I would just like to thank my family and friend’s for their unstinting support once again this year. In particular I would like to dedicate the success of the season to my good friend at Curran Racing, Alan Lavery, who was unfortunately knocked off his bike at the start of the year.”

Madden plans to take a period of active recovery for a while before embarking on another hard winter programme of training.