Superb result for Simon after second position at Maghera

The race covered four laps of the, 14 miles per lap, Maghera, Knockloughrim, Hillhead, Bellaghy, Gulladuff, Maghera circuit for a total of 56 miles.

Simon, from Tullygarley, kept well to the fore throughout the event and then late on the final circuit he attacked and moved clear on his own.

He was chased down by first year junior Declan Mulholland (Clann Eireann) who closed the gap on his own to join Taggart.

From there to the finish the front pair watched each other as neither wanted to lose the chance of a memorable win, however, with the line in site, Mulholland jumped clear for a solo win. Taggart had enough in reserve to hang on and take second while David Donaghy of Caldwell Cycles was third.

The remaining positions came down to a bunch sprint with Mark Millar of Velo Café Magasin edging out Tommy Rafferty of Slane Cycles. James Mullin of Roe Valley CC was next over the line and he was followed in by Gordon Scott (East Antrim) and Paul Duffy (Northwest CC)

* Red Hand Trophy winner Fraser Duncan (Northern) had his fourth win of the season when he was first home in Saturday’s Tour of the Ards Peninsula road race at Newtownards.

WALLACE CALDWELL MEMORIAL

Following on from the success of the recent Red Hand Trophy road race Ballymena Road Club are looking forward to the club’s next big promotion – the Wallace Caldwell memorial road race - which is scheduled to take place at Galgorm on Saturday, April 12.

The race starts from Galgorm and follows a route to Ahoghill, Portglenone, Maghera, Garvagh, Ringsend and then the tough climb to the Cam forest. Then it’s a fast downhill sweep to the outskirts of Limavady before turning right and the even tougher climb up to the Springwell forest. Then it’s on towards Coleraine before turning right on to the Garvagh road and left through Aghadowey to the Brown Trout.

The final miles take in Kilrea, the outskirts of Rasharkin and on to the Lisnahunshin road and on through Killyless before descending Ballyconnelly road to the Galgorm finish at Wrightbus, a total distance of 74 miles. The event starts at 11am and usually finishes around 2pm.

This is the same finish as was used for the first time last season when Thomas Martin (Eurocycles) was first over the line in 2 hours 54 minutes 15 seconds for the 74 miles event.

Race organiser David Dougan reports the entry sold out within 40 minutes of going online so the race will have a full field of 80 riders and a reserve list of ten riders.

David is appealing for race marshalls and feels that help may be in short supply as many club members will be away on the annual trip to Majorca at the time. Others may assume that the organisation of the event is being looked after solely by the race committee, which is not the case.