Martin’s Maiden

Martin Ridge’s debut win in the A4 race at the Paddy Neary Memorial races in Dundalk yesterday was three years and 70 kilometres in the making.

Photo: Georgie FrancisHaving been forced to abandon a previous expedition into the world of cycle racing due to a new arrival in the Ridge family household three seasons ago, Martin has found time to revisit his cycling ambitions lately and a good winter of preparation produced the power for a winning surge to the line.

Ridge, prominent throughout and the author of a five kilometre solo escape on the fourth of five 14km laps of the Knockbridge circuit outside Dundalk, was perfectly positioned on the final drag to the finish line as the main group hunted down a late attacker.

Ridge surged clear of the fifteen man group contesting the finish and powered across the gap to the lone leader in the final 50 metres, having the time for a nonchalant single arm salute to signal his maiden victory.

A little further back  Joe McSherry showed that class is permanent as he marked his comeback to open racing after a 20 year layoff with a fine sixth place finish.

Meanwhile in the main race, new Orwell recruit Michael Barry tagged onto the winning break which just held off a fast chasing pack and took a fine sixth place on his debut for the club to cap a fine start to the season for the club.

Short youtube videos of the finishes can be accessed from the Cuchulainn Cycling Club forum at this link.

See a photo gallery of both races here.

Further afield, perhaps the finest Orwell performance on a strong first weekend of the season came from Michelle Geoghegan who fully justified her selection by the Dutch Moving Ladies squad by finishing 39th out of 164 starters in the Omoop Het Nieuwsblad. Orwell's reigning National League champion survived a minor crash 30km from the end of the 125km race to be the only finisher from her team. Full results here.

Results:

Paddy Neary Memorial Races Dundalk 28-2-10

A4 Race, 70km

1, Martin Ridge (Dundrum Town Centre Orwell Wheelers On Your Bike);

6, Joe McSherry (Dundrum Town Centre Orwell Wheelers On Your Bike).

 

A1/A2/A3 Race, 84km

1, Philip Lavery (Look Academy);

2, Shane Baker (Usher Irish Road Club);

3, Glenn Kinning (Audi East Antrim);

4, Craig Sweetman (Stamullen-M Donnelly RC);

5, Neil Delahaye (Usher Irish Road Club);

6, Michael Barry (Dundrum Town Centre Orwell Wheelers On Your Bike).

http://omloop.nieuwsblad.be/omloop-data/versioned/omloop2010-elite-women-results.pdf