Orwell's Mayo salad

Mayo Youth Tour, Co. Mayo, 8th-9th August

There were 58 starters in the Under 14 category. There were teams from the Isle of Man, Belgium, Scotland and England. This is the biggest bunch that Craig and I have ever raced in and both of us were selected for the Leinster A team.

The circuit was very open and draggy with strong cross winds. After some very hard racing, there were around 30 riders left for the sprint. After much pushing and shoving, and even getting a brake lever in the ass (!) I managed to finish seventh and first unplaced U13 while Craig came third. The stage was won by Jake Kelly of the Isle of Man.

Day 2: 4k Time Trial

It was the first time for us to ever use a start ramp for a TT, covered in carpet. I was off seventh last and once again finished seventh and first unplaced U13. Craig was off third last and came first by four seconds to take the yellow jersey.

Stage 3: 22km Road Race

Craig looked well in yellow and not for the first time this year. The race started in Kiltimagh Main Street and went out onto some very narrow winding roads. There was one big hill around the back of the circuit which caused 26 riders to be dropped. We were defending Craig's jersey all day and in the last few kilometres the Scottish girls team launched their usual attack but did not get very far. Then there was a big sprint which once again Jake Kelly won with Craig second and me fifth. Craig was still in yellow and I was still seventh overall and first U13.

Day 4: 4 laps of a 5.7k criterium circuit.

Craig now only had a three second lead over Jake Kelly and had to finish in the top three to win the overall. There was a narrow bridge over a river barely wide enough for two riders to get through, followed by a dual 'cabbageway' with grass growing up the middle of the road which was wet and very slippy. Once again we spent the day defending Craig's jersey. On the last lap I told Craig to take my wheel and stay on it for the sprint. For the last kilometre I went to the front and kept the pace up so no one could attack thinking that Craig was on my wheel. With 250 metres left I pulled over to let Craig out only to find that Jake Kelly was on my wheel and Craig was on his. When Craig went to overtake Kelly, Kelly switched him into a parked van forcing Craig to brake and take his foot out of the pedal and finish fourth. It looked like we had lost the jersey but they discovered that Craig still had 0.14 of a second lead left over Jake Kelly from the time trial, which meant that Craig won the overall.

For the weekend we had first overall, 1st team overall, first Under 13 overall, a stage win and a top six place in every stage. Not a bad weekend's work!