Another Tuesday evening.... another women's league race in Corkagh Park!  The 3rd of May saw a dry and almost warm evening. Light winds from the west meant conditions were excellent and there could be no excuses.

B RACE:

First up were the B group - last weeks sprinters were back for more and once again after a few attempted breaks it started to look like we were heading for another sprint finish.  a strong group of 6 managed to stick together and coming into the last bend the organisers set up 2 slow motion cameras on the finish line - after the extremely close finish last week nothing was being taken for granted. In the end it was Hannah Gibney of UCD who sprinted clear to take the win. A bike length back Aoife Malone came in for second while Murina Twomey got the better of Marijke Beltman this week to take 3rd - we forsee many battles to come between this pair!  5th went to Vicki Nicholson of Bray with Lorraine Harringtown taking the last of the top points on offer. 

1. Hannah Gibney

2. Aoife Malone

3. Muirna Twomey

4. Marijke Beltman

5. Vicki Nicholson

6. Lorraine Harrington

B RACE PHOTOS: Matthew Lysaght B race photos

A RACE:

A cracker of an A race tonight - it was fast and furious from the start. Monica Marconi and Beata Golzac where given a small head start as they are both on the comeback trail but the chasing A group had no sympathy and they hunted them down from the gun.

A quality field included Orla Walsh and National Crit Champion Autumn Collins - both looking to make an impression on their first night racing in the Orwell League this year.  Annalise Murphy did much of the work in chasing down the Orwell two out front and then went into TT mode for a lot of the race with the bunch happy to let her do most of the work.  A couple of attacks looked like they might get away but the gap was never big enough and such was the strength of Annalise that she closed down everything. Orla Walsh and Jen Bates were the most aggressive on the night - Jen Bates stayed away for several laps but was closed down as it came to the sharp end of the race.

The Slow Motion cameras were positioned on the finish line once again as it became clear that this quality field was going to come to the line together!  In the end Autumn Collins had the strength and freshness in the legs to take the win with Orla Walsh crossing the line in 2nd.  3rd was Junior rider Emma Smith of Navan with Annalise Murphy in 4th. 5th was Ellen Murray with Elizabeth Kent rounding out the podium positions.

Most competitive rider on the night was Jen Bates, and it was also great to see such gutsy riding from junior riders Smith and Murray.

1. Autumn Collins

2. Orla Walsh

3. Emma Smith

4. Annalise Murphy

5. Ellen Murray

6. Elizabeth Kent

A RACE PHOTOS: Matthew Lysaght Photos A Race