{"id":646542,"date":"2026-06-19T03:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T03:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/646542\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T03:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T03:56:11","slug":"watson-and-junior-armstrong-ride-away-at-ulster-crit-champs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/646542\/","title":{"rendered":"Watson and junior Armstrong ride away at Ulster Crit Champs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Lindsay Watson of Caldwell Powerhouse leads junior rider James Armstrong of U19 Academy R\u00e9gion Sud powered by Giant in the closing stages of the Ulster Criterium Championships (Photo: David McVeigh-Belgian Progect)<\/p>\n

Lindsay Watson (Caldwell Powerhouse) and then first-year junior James Armstrong were the men of the race at last year’s Ulster Criterium Championships, though while Watson won, Armstrong finished out of the medals.<\/p>\n

But last night when they got away in a two-man move during the title race in Newtownards, Co Down, they made it a stick, surviving out front to take the medals.<\/p>\n

The name on the top step was the same; Watson retaining the title. But Armstrong (U19 Academy R\u00e9gion Sud powered by Giant) at least got to cross the line in 2nd place and lift the junior title.<\/p>\n

Armstrong had made the break in the closing stages of the contest, going solo and pulling out an advantage on his own, before being joined by Watson, who just beat him in a close sprint.]<\/p>\n

However, because Armstrong is still a junior, he did not get the senior category silver medal. That instead went to Travis Harkness (Unattached).<\/p>\n

Harkness was 3rd over the line after winning the bunch sprint from Gary Donaldson, the latter making it a 1-3 for Caldwell Powerhouse.<\/p>\n

The women’s title was won by Gabrielle Fox (Toyota Valencia SAV) from Elena Wallace (Harps CC) and Jemma Speers) North Down Cycling Club).<\/p>\n

A minute’s silence was observed before the start of the race in honour of international junior Shane O’Brien, who was so sadly killed out riding his bike on Tuesday in Co Waterford.<\/p>\n

Wed, June 17th | Ards Criterium & Ulster Champs<\/p>\n

Newtownards, Co Down\u00a0<\/p>\n

Promoted by Ards Cycling Club<\/p>\n

Senior Men’s Podium<\/p>\n

Lindsay Watson Caldwell Powerhouse Racing
\nTravis Harkness Unattached Ulster
\nGary Donaldson Caldwell Powerhouse Racing<\/p>\n

Senior Women’s Podium<\/p>\n

Gabrielle Fox Toyota Valencia SAV
\nElena Wallace Harps CC
\nJemma Speers North Down Cycling Club<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Ireland's<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Jamie<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Junior Men’s Podium<\/p>\n

James Armstrong Unattached Ulster
\nCurtis McKee Spellman-Dublin Port
\nCaleb McGreevy Region Sud Cycling Academy<\/p>\n

Junior Women<\/p>\n

Emer Heverin Camsmajaco<\/p>\n

Women M40<\/p>\n

Rachel Jones Ballymena Road Club<\/p>\n

Men M40 Podium<\/p>\n

Stephen Hanna Dromara Cycling Club
\nPaul Smith Banbridge Cycling Club
\nMartin Hughes Ballymena Road Club<\/p>\n

Men M45 Podium<\/p>\n

Gerard Craig VC Glendale
\nAaron Parks Banbridge Cycling Club
\nYesten Smith North Down Cycling Club<\/p>\n

Men M50 Podium<\/p>\n

Paul Ferguson North Down Cycling Club
\nGlen Curry Ards CC
\nDavid Armstrong VC Glendale<\/p>\n

Men M55 Podium<\/p>\n

Ronnie Smith Dromara Cycling Club
\nMark Baird Dromore CC
\nAdrian Moore North Down Cycling Club<\/p>\n

Men M60\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alan Watson Dromara Cycling Club<\/p>\n

Men M65<\/p>\n

Gerry Kelly Carn Wheelers<\/p>\n

Men M70<\/p>\n

Tom Henry North Down Cycling Club<\/p>\n

Men M75<\/p>\n

Carl Fullerton Donegal Bay Cycling Club<\/p>\n

Girls U16 Podium<\/p>\n

Aoife Craig VC Glendale
\nAva Baker Breffni Wheelers<\/p>\n

Boys U16 Podium<\/p>\n

Dylan Finnegan Square Wheels
\nDarragh Young Apollo Cycling Team.<\/p>\n

Girls U14 Podium<\/p>\n

Kiyomi Tosh Ballymena Road Club<\/p>\n

Boys U14 Podium<\/p>\n

Billy Lord Breffni Wheelers
\nJamie Sherlock Square Wheels
\nNathan Baker Breffni Wheelers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lindsay Watson of Caldwell Powerhouse leads junior rider James Armstrong of U19 Academy R\u00e9gion Sud powered by Giant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-646542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}