His closest challenger was Roger Aiken from the promoting club, Banbridge CC who certainly made the champion work hard to retain the title which he won last year in Clondalkin. In third place was Louis Ferguson who was touted as one of the pre-race favourites, but he was well adrift of Seymour at the "nish by over three minutes.

"I'm glad that's over. It was a tough course with plenty of muck. Got a bit of scare early on when I punctured, but a quick change made life that little bit easier, ' said Robin, who put the Christmas and New Year celebrations on the back burner in preparation of a successful defence.

"Towards the end I started to slow and that is how Roger clawed back. He unfortunately dented my winning sequence in these championships when he beat me back in 2005. Still 15 titles out of a 16 year span is great."