Orwell were as active as ever in today's Costa Autumn Classic, with Trish Buckley scoring a well-deserved win! Orla Hendron, Anne Dalton, Sandra Telford, Charlotte McDonald and Michelle Geoghegan all rode their hearts out for the club. The result was that all the other favourites had to spend the entire race riding on the front of the bunch trying to bring Orwell breaks back. Declan Quigley and Dick O'Brien report below...

Last week two teams of Orwell Wheelers made the long trek down to Sneem in County Kerry, where they had to endure an even longer race, the most difficult Rás na mBan in its history. Also starring in the race were Anne Dalton for the Irish National Team, and Charlotte McDonald for Cycling Leinster. With six stages in five days, almost 400km of racing, and a queen stage with two Cat 1 climbs, just to finish the Rás is an achievement in itself. Eddie Lynch reports below...

Please visit the forum to see the 3 proposed club kit designs that will be voted upon at the AGM.

The club will be holding an open night on Tuesday, September 25 at Joe Daly's shop in Dundrum between 7pm and 8:30pm, for members to get their sizing and place orders for winter club clothing.

Six Orwellians made their way down to Charleville for the annual 2 day stage race - Patrick O'Brien, Aidan Collins and Brian McArdle for the A2/3 race, and Neal Hudson, Philippe Bourdarias and Jamie Busher for the A4 event. Stage 1 was a ~75km road race over mostly rolling terrain, with a larger bump or two, the most significant about 50km in. The second stage was an individual time trial, a mostly flat 6.7km, with the third stage back on the road for ~70km, and featuring a climb of Ballyhoura.

Orwell managed to achieve a 100% medal rate in tonight's Hill Climb Champs, with Brian Ahern beating all other comers to take the overall top spot, and the A1 gold medal. No lesser feat was Rachel Glendon topping the women's placings to also take home a gold. Brian McArdle could only manage a bronze - he will face the club disciplinary committee next week to explain himself.

For those of you who might have missed Anne's post on the forum, she's taken time out of her rigorous Rás na mBan training schedule to organise the annual weekend away and a social night! Put the dates in your diaries now - the 20^th/21^st October for the trip, and 21^st September for the social night. Click for more details!

Rachael Kaye-Mellor closed off her season with a fine win at the National Youth Championships on Saturday. The Orwell rider held off some stiff competition, sprinting hard to grab victory in the U15 & U16 girls' road race event, earning the U16 National Champion title.

Now updated with full Crit results.

A wet and rainy night saw no change in the top three Orwell placings, as Eric Downey stole the show with his league debut of 126 points. Eddie Lynch managed to keep the young pretenders at bay, delivering a solid silver place with 104 points. And Patrick O'Brien brought up the rear close behind Eddie, with a respectable 102 points despite having missed six races this year.

On the 12th of August, a bunch of Orwellians took part in the Martin Earley Tour of Kildare in aid of the Marie Keating Foundation. See the video here.