Club League 2022, Round 6, Brittas, May 12

The next race will take place on Thursday May 12, starting opposite the Blue Gardenia pub in Brittas. Sign on closes at 6:50. If you're marshaling, please be there by 6:30. Since this is our first road race of the year, I'd urge all those racing and marshaling to read this very carefully.

We'll do two full laps of the Brittas circuit , i.e three times over the bridge. The finish line will be at the top of the drag at Oldcourt. The race organisers will make a call on the night on how many races to run. Based on numbers signing on so far this year, I'd expect a single handicapped race. 

If you're new to the league, familiarise yourself with the circuit (the first time I did this circuit, I thought the lap went in the opposite direction). Most of the corners are straightforward, but there is one, tight hairpin bend as you approach Kilbride and turn to go back towards the lake. Even more so than in Corkagh Park, road races will reward groups who work well together to try catch the groups ahead and stay away from the groups behind. 

Road races depend upon maintaining the goodwill of local communities and the Gardai. I don't want to see any behaviour that will damage the reputation of the club. In particular:

• Please remain polite and civil in all interactions with members of the public. 
• No littering or public urination
• No dangerous or reckless riding

All marshals should read the guidelines for marshaling . Even if they are experienced league racers, there's no harm in refreshing your memory. Bear in mind:

• If you've arranged a replacement, please text their name to me. It makes it easier for us to do advance work on assigning marshals.
• You have no power to stop traffic. Your role is analogous to someone helping a tractor back out of a gate. You may request that traffic pause to let the race through but if someone declines that request, the marshal's role is to warn oncoming riders of a potential hazard and get them to slow down or even stop if necessary. 
• Signal to approaching riders the way to go. Don't assume they'll know the course.
• If you can, bring a car. We'll need some lead cars and it'll make it easier also to get people to the more distant corners.

All those racing should remember the following:

• You are not racing on closed roads. While the marshals will try keep junctions clear, stay aware of what's ahead and be prepared to slow or stop if needs be.
• The rules of the road still apply. I don't want to see anyone riding on the wrong side of the road. 
• If you're dropped from your group, don't expect marshals to try keep the junction open for you. We want to keep traffic moving as much as possible and we won't be asking cars to stop for dropped riders. 

This week's race organisers will be John Twomey and Darran Kearney. 

Marshals are:

• Daniel Coulcher
• Barry Cronin
• Keith Cunningham
• Jules De Meester
• Ian  Devlin
• Robert Dolan
• Ian Donnelly
• Michael Doorly
• Kilian Doyle
• Bernard English
• JP Flynn
• Manuel Fontan Garcia
• Mathieu Fragniere
• Beata Golczak
• Garrett Greene
• Dmitri  Griffin
• Ronan Grimes
• Orla Hendron
• Alan Hickey
• Martyn Holmes
• Neal Hudson
• Paul Kane

A combined L/SL group rode well last night with the Scratch group only finally making contact in the final few hundred metres with only Sean Murnane from Scratch managing to make it up into the places, the rest of which were bagged by the L/SL group.

1st Luca Holmes (SL)
2nd James O'Brien (L)
3rd Niall Kieran (SL)
4th Oisin Murtagh (SL)
5th Sean Murnane (S)
6th Nigel Burke (L)

Couple of upgrades on the back of last night's race

Luca Holmes SL=>SS
James O'Brien L=>SL
Nigel Burke L=>SL

Niall and Oisin are probably about one more result away from going up to SS.

Big thanks to John Twomey, Darran Kearney, Eddy Lane and all the marshals for helping run a great race.