John Madden is Ulster champion for fifth consecutive year

He also placed second over all narrowly behind the senior winner John Heverin (Clann Eireann) by 3 seconds.

In far from ideal conditions over ninety riders signed on at Woodgreen, between Ballymena and Antrim, on Sunday morning for the Ulster 10 mile TT Championships. A number of mishaps and technical difficulties reduced the final finishers to eighty two.

With David McCann of Giant Kenda out with illness, Clann Eireann’s John Heverin was the favourite to lift the senior title and he did not disappoint the punters, coming home to take gold in a time of 20.30. However John Madden of Curran Racing pushed him all the way and only lost out to the top position by 3 seconds but it was enough give him a clear winning margin and Gold in the Vets competition and silver in the senior. This is the fifth year in a row Madden has lifted the Vets title and represents a fabulous achievement for the Ballycastle based cyclist. Surprise of the day was when Cormac McCann (Jnr) lined out at his first open competition in nearly 20 years. He further amazed the spectators by recording a PB of 20.38 which was enough to guarantee him bronze in the Senior men’s championship and silver in the Vets competition. Ivan Robinson of Ards CC took the final medal in the Vets competition with a time of 21.03 beating renowned tester, Mark Greer, of Maryland Wheelers by one second. Tommy Burns of SportActive was on hand to present the Martin Birney Trophies to John Heverin and John Madden. These will now be engraved and presented along with the Championship medals at the Cycling Ulster Awards night later in the year.

Madden won the Dave Kane and Super six TT leagues a couple of years ago and recently smashed his own Irish Veteran record for 10 miles in a time of 19:55. Madden is also the current Irish record holder for Veteran 10, 25 and Senior 50 miles TT.

Madden said “I am pleased with my time which is close to my fastest of 19:55 and although I beat Heverin the week before by the same winning margin of 3 seconds on the same course I am still delighted to lift the Veteran title for the 5th year in a row which I believe has not been done before by any other rider.

“I am also very happy since TT has only recently become my focus late in the season since prior to that I have been mostly doing road racing. I would like to focus on this discipline now and hopefully continue to get some top results in the Irish and Ulster 25 and Ulster 100 mile Championships in September.”

Madden will also be doing the 182k sportif which leaves Ballycastle on the 17th September which is being promoted by Radio Shack professional cyclist Philip Deignan from Donegal and finishes over the gruelling Torr Head road from Cushendun to Ballycastle.

Results:

Ulster Senior Men’s Championship

Gold - John Heverin Clann Éireann CC 20:30 Silver - John Madden Curran Racing/Bann Wheelers 20:33 Bronze - Cormac McCann Jnr Phoenix CC 20:58 Ulster Veteran Men’s Championship

Gold - John Madden Curran Racing/Bann Wheelers 20:33 Silver - Cormac McCann Jnr Phoenix CC 20:58 Bronze - Ivan Robinson Ards CC 21.03 Top 10 results from 82 riders:

John Heverin Clann Éireann CC 20:30 John Madden Curran Racing/Bann Wheelers 20:33 Cormac McCann Jnr Phoenix CC 20:58 Ivan Robinson Ards CC 21:03 Mark Greer Maryland Wheelers 21:04 Robert Stewart East Tyrone CC 21:25 Gerry McCabe Cuchullain CC 21:26 William Larmour East Antrim-Audi 21:47 Simon Stockton Team Madigan 21:47 Matthew Heaney Apollo CT 21:49