Open Racing

Orwell are very active on the national scene - see all the results and reports from open races here.

It's a title few riders can lay claim to, but every racer in Ireland covets. Tom Blennerhassett was part of the Orwell team for the An Post Rás 2015, and he takes us through his week below in a gripping read!

When the Rás is on, sometimes other events can get lost and forgotten. Stephen Barry made it one to remember when he won the Barrow GP A4 race in style, capping a late solo move with a great win! He takes us through it below...

Following in the wheelruts of several Orwell riders before him, Mark Holland notched up his maiden open win in Dunsany at the weekend! Along with 3rd placed Paul Perry, a great team effort paid off for the club. Diarmuid Collins also collected an envelope at the Shay Elliot on Sunday, full details inside!

The wet and wild roads of the Corkman saw some solid Orwell performances last weekend, with Brian McArdle riding strongly throughout, and Conor Murnane getting up in the final sprint.

Two weeks have passed since the Easter stage races, and as well as Conor Murnane's sprints there, the club have been picking up prizes since. Conor and younger brother Seán both featured in Stamullen, along with Jules Cantwell. And this weekend in Drogheda, Paul Kane, Garry Blair and Dick O'Brien all took home envelopes. Full details below!

Further along the age categories the seniors have been holding their own, with several big results in the last ten days. The A4s have enjoyed a great week's racing. Earlier last week, in the Boyne GP and St Patrick's Day race, Garry Blair and Brendan Lawless scored two smashing A4 victories, and Paul Kane took 4th in the latter. Lawless then earned his A3 upgrade with 3rd at the Des Hanlon, while Neal Hudson took an unplaced A2 prize. There were also two Orwells in the top ten for the women - Michelle Geoghegan and Brianne Mulvihill.

The first of several reports from a busy and successful few days of racing comes out of the west, where Dick O'Brien led home an Orwell crew who took three top ten spots in the TT stage, and subsequently the overall. Tom Blennerhassett repeated his strong showing from 2014, and Brian McArdle marked a welcome return to stage racing. Read on for more!

There's a touch of déjà vu about the results this weekend, with both Conor Murnane and Chris Mollaghan taking the only Orwell placings. That did wonders for their ranking points, with Murnane topping the Juniors for a day, and Mollaghan making his way into A3. The snow in Navan was the only thing on people's minds though, with five Orwell women making their débuts in the cold! Read on to see how they fared!

The first of our reports from the open races for 2015 sees results across the Juniors and Seniors, and men and women! Conor Murnane opened the club's account in Monasterevin, and the second weekend witnessed Chris Mollaghan and Ciara Kinch clock up two more placings in the senior categories.

Two races in early September saw two A4 performances of note - one a regular racer, the other almost a complete novice. David Maher got his long-overdue upgrade to A3 with a 3rd at the head of the bunch sprint in Laragh, while Chris Mollaghan made a impression at his first stage race, with 12th in the TT and 5th in the final stage, narrowly missing out on a top ten overall spot. Plenty more racing action below!