Paddy Flannagan GP, promoted by Newbridge CC – write up thanks to Michael Hanley:
There are good days, there are bad days and then there are just the days in between that hold them all together. Nondescript, neither peaks nor troughs, simply hovering around the median. That’s pretty much how this race went. Average.
If I were to wheel out the list of excuses, I could point to a lingering virus that I hadn’t been able to shake for a couple of weeks. Riding the Sally Gap race when I wasn’t feeling back to full health definitely reset the “days since last feeling crap” counter to “00”. And so, instead of listening to my body, which I had grown quite good at over the last year, I limped on to the Orwell weekend away in Tralee and another club league race around Dorey’s Forge. Sometimes, staying away from the bike is the best medicine of all, but I was stubbornly resolute in my belief that I could now overcome anything.
And so, on to Newbridge. I had thought about sleeping in. I could have done a nice early spin, maybe taken in part of the Wicklow 200, then gone home to play some playstation for the afternoon. Instead I was sitting in Cahir’s kitchen drinking coffee while his dog was looking for attention from the interloper.
There were 4 of us racing in the A3 race (newcomer Anthony in the A4, although looking like he will be upgraded very quickly, and probably to A2 not long after). If you take one thing away from this article, it’s that you should definitely play Playstation on a Sunday. If you take another thing from this article, it’s that if there are more than 2 of you in a race, have a bloody talk about tactics. Myself, Mihai, Paul “Sugar” Kane and Cahir “Bullshit” O’Higgins stood in a circle talking about everything except potential tactics. Perhaps it’s just that we are still in the “storming” phase of team development, but we are definitely getting better at racing together and knowing each other’s strengths, we just fell short of coming up with a plan. In fairness, Mihai was the only one to state his intention for the day.
The route was fairly flat with 2 short drags, one of which flattened out before leading into the finish line. We would cover 4 laps, which I always prefer since you get to develop some course knowledge during the race if you haven’t been lucky enough to ride it in previous years. Stay awake in the last few kilometers, pay attention to the finish: is it fast? Is it flat? Is it narrow? Is it after a tricky corner or into a headwind? All these things are important and incredibly obvious, but seem to get lost in the heat of a race. Where should you be positioned in the final few ks so you don’t get boxed in?
Former Orwell, current UCD and part-time Callum stunt double Peter O’Toole would go on to form the winning move after only 2km, taking 2 other riders with him. They opened up a gap of over 2 minutes which was never reduced due to a combination of incredible riding and ineffective chasing from the peloton. Peter took the sprint for a fantastic and well earned win.
On the last lap, we could never figure out what was going on. We were hearing that there were 3 and then 5 riders in the break. They had 2, 2:30 and 3 minutes all from different sources. We even had a case of “spectator doping” from a Tiernan’s bystander who was telling the race that the break was too far gone and the race was over (eh, still 7 places up for grabs!). Cries of “bullshit” came from the bunch. I have been assured by my legal counsel that these could definitely not be classed as slanderous.
I got myself into a really good position for the finish. Barging down the gutter on the left behind my friend Phil from Team WORC before ending up on the right near Mihai. It was getting a bit ropey and we were spread across the entire width of the road. At this point, I thought there were prizes for the top 6 and with potentially 5 riders up the road, it was John Priest’s placing to lose. I kicked. Not hard enough. Definitely not hard enough and I ended up outside the placings. I know there was more to give there. Cahir, who had been riding great all day, got up in the sprint for a solid 8th place and the diesel money home. Ok, so that’s another thing to take away: find out how many placings are on offer and pay attention to how many are up the road! Or just make sure you get in the break.
Cycling Ireland Women's National Road Series Round 3
Round 3 of the Women's National League took place as part of the Donamon GP in Co Roscommon on Sunday. Lining up for Scott Orwell Wheelers were Áine Donegan and Yvonne Doran.
Áine comes from a triathlon background and has only started concentrating on bike racing this year. So far she has taken the scene by storm with podium positions in both of her National League races!
Along with Áine and Yvonne was a top class field of 25, including Eve McCrystal (Garda CC) who had broken the course record for the Hammond TT just one day earlier and League leader Katharine Smyth of Ballymeana CC.
The race was 5 laps of a fast and hot 16km circuit. On lap one Áine managed to break clear, and at one point had a 30 second gap, however she wasnt let loose for long and was reeled back in with McCrystal and Smyth keeping a tight reign on the front of the race.
Unfortunately, on lap 3 the women's race was stopped to allow the men's race to pass as they were catching the women's race
When the race restarted it split into 3 groups on the road with the placings being decided by the lead group of 10. In the bunch sprint McCrystal showed her power to ride away from Áine but it looks like it wont be long before Aine gets that well deserved win. Smyth rounded out the podium in third and Yvonne raced strongly to finish in 10th overall.
After 3 rounds of the National League Series Áine is in second place behind Katharine Smyth with McCrystal in 3rd. The next round will be this Friday in Mullingar as part of the National Criterium Championships.
Youths: Thanks to Stephen Ryan
On Saturday morning , Conor Murphy Rodgers won the U16’s Hammond TT with Ronan O'Connor 2nd and Dylan Baker 4th in the same age group. Conor set a new U16 record in near perfect weather conditions. Near perfect if you were standing watching at least, probably not if you were putting the hammer down for 55-60 minutes. Katie Reilly won the U14 prize and Ruairi Byrne gets a special mention.
Each Wednesday evening there is a Track League in Sundrive. Currently Caoimhe May is leading the C2 group after 7 rounds, while Katie Reilly, Áine Reilly and Óisin May are 2nd , 4th and 5th respectively in the D league.
Sundrive Track Spring League Table
At Corkagh Park on Monday night there were 40 sign on for the Monday Night Races Full results are on the web page. Monday Night Youths Racing Results
Races are handicapped and Katie Reilly took the overall win and there were U12’s, U14's and U16’s all in the mix at the end .
Club League
Last Thursday night the club returned to the lumpy circuit that is Doreys Forge once again after an unfortunate double booking at Mondello Park. This time out the traffic Gods smiled upon us and the weekly pilgrimage took only a fraction of the usual time – I even made the start for a change;)
Only 4 Limit riders signed on to race and so a combined Limit/Semi Limit set off with a vengeance. The group had stayed away the week before on the Green Sheds circuit and had managed a clean sweep of the results. It became very obvious very quickly that they were looking to do likewise again this week!
The group worked very well together, marshaled by some of the Semi Limit group and the experienced head of Damian Long. Unfortunately for Luke he got a bee to the back of the throath and dropped off at the start of the last lap – never a good thing, especially for a Vegan! (Luke claims the bee was HUGE, possibly an African Killer Bee - however he seems to have swallowed the evidence!)
With about half to three quarters of a lap to go the fast moving blur of Cahir O’Higgins and Dmitri Griffin passed the limit/semi limit group and blew them apart. Some managed to make the jump across leaving 4 to wait for the faster moving main group. And fast moving they were when they caught the remaining L/SL. On a slight down hill and moving like the Express Train to Doreys! Damian, Breda and Partick were able to grab a wheel and disappeared out of sight.
In the end the scratch group caught the brave escapees and got up for the points:
1 Philippe Bourdarias (S)
2 Eoin Ahern (S)
3 Colm O'Neill (S)
4 Barry McMahon (S)
5 Ronan O'Flynn (S)
6 Brian McNally (S)
Women
1 Yvonne Doran (SL)
2 Breda Horan (SL)
3 Louise Keane (L)
Noel & Kieran Hammond Memorial TT:
The Noel and Kieran Hammond Memorial TT took place on Saturday in Roundwood. Conditions were perfect for the race with blue skies and no winds!!
Conn McDunphy of Holdsworth Racing took the Noel Hammond Trophy and Dmitri Griffin of Scott Orwell Wheelers the Kieran Hammond Trophy for Juniors.
There is a full report on the club website including photos - Noel & Kieran Hammond Memorial TT Write UP
A compilation video by Leonard Kaye:
