In our round up of the weekends news we start with The Des Hanlon Classic in Carlow. There were Scott-Orwell Wheeler's in all categories but the result of the day was a fine 5th place by Ciara Kinch in the women's race which was also part of the National Series and gets Ciara on the points board. Ciara takes us through the race here:

It was my first race of 2018 and as I was unable to race last year, I was a bit ring-rusty.

On the first drag I made it across the lead group (this was with Michelle, Nessa, Aine and Katherine), then lost contact at the prime and made it across again on the decent. It was at that point that Katherine Smyth dropped the second group. We were sprinting for second from 20kms on.

I think my max speed descending was 78kph which was when I was trying to re-join Nessa and Michelle. I enjoyed that :)

There were six of us at the first lap, we lost two of the young riders at the start of the  second lap. On lap one, once contact had been made and Katherine was out of sight we had started to work and made the gap stick.

I went far too early in the sprint from 700 metres out (mad!) and couldn’t hold it. When I got caught the final sprint had started and I eventually crossed the line in 5th place.

Congrats to all the ladies who participated in this tough event. Many thanks to the organisers and marshalls who made the event safe and definitely worth a revisit. Now to get some more race practice and some hard climbs in. Ciara.

There was also a strong contingent of youth riders at the Des Hanlon. Terry Reilly sends this report:

We had a large turn out. In beautiful sunshine on a tough hilly course all preformed very well and as always acted impeccably, a credit to their club and parents.

In the U12 we had

2 Boys Killian O'Brien & Luca Holmes

1 Girl Áine Reilly

U14

1 Boy Ruairi Byrne

2 Girls Annie Roche & Katie Reilly

U16

3 Boys Andrew Ryan, Conor Murphy & Ronan O'Connor

1 Girl Caoimhe May

All finished very well high up the rankings, with bragging rights going to Annie Roche who finished 2nd in the U14 race and Caoimhe May finished 3rd in the U16 race.

 

Meanwhile in the West of Ireland Paul Forristal had a superb ride in the Time Trial stage of Ras Mhaigh Eo coming in first and moving up to 7th place overall on GC.  Paul sends word that he “clipped in, used his TT bars, rode flat out and won”! A man who keeps his breath for racing;)

We were also very well represented overseas last weekend!

Lara Gillespie traveled to Gent-Wevelgem as part of the “Cannibal” team supported by the IrishCycleSport International Cycling Project. The under 19 race was just over 75km and took in many of the climbs and cobbles of the senior races.

Lara was struggling with a hand injury and a mechanical issue with her cranks, despite considering pulling out at one point she battled on. With a  few kms to go, realising that she might not have the power to sprint as her crank/pedals kept jamming every couple of revolutions Lara went for the long run for victory. Her attack nearly stuck but she was reeled in just before the final sprint. Well done to Lara on finishing in 25th overall.

On the other side of the world Ronan Grimes was competing in his first Para-Cycling Track World Championships. The following is a compilation of reports from Cycling Ireland. (Ronan promises an insider report later on!)

THURSDAY

Scott-Orwell Wheeler Ronan Grimes broke into the top ten in the 1km Time Trial at his first track world championship event finishing in ninth place on Thursday 22nd of March. gold went to GB’s Jody Cundy ahead of Jozef Metelka (Slovakia) and USA’s Jacob Waters taking bronze.

“That was a great experience,” said the Galway man explained to Cycling Ireland after the 1km race, where his finishing time was 1.11.595. “The time of 1.11 is something I would have grabbed at before the race, so I have to be happy with that, and it’s a top ten too. I have a lot of positives to take from it – and a lot to learn too.  “I kind of pulled a bit too early at the gate so I lost a bit of momentum at the start of race. When it is just four laps it is over before you know it – so it was all a kind of blur until I heard that last bell.”
The 29-year-old Scott-Orwell Wheelers rider enjoyed his track cycling debut at a major championships –

“The track isn’t something I have a whole lot of experience in and the kilo is not something I have a speciality in. The nerves were setting in an hour or so beforehand. The hour went by very quickly, and I was up on the boards before I knew it!

SATURDAY

Early Saturday morning Ronan was back on the track and finished eighth in the Men’s C4 4km Individual Pursuit with 4.55.538.  After the race, Ronan spoke to Cycling Ireland and explained that he was happy with his result, describing a high standard race – “The standard of riders in the top ten today was very high, with most having medalled at world championships before. Going into it I thought I might have gone a couple of seconds faster, but perhaps got my pacing slightly off. “Still, the results from today’s pursuit and Thursday’s kilo have left me with some good benchmarks to work on and improve on over the next season.”

SUNDAY

Ronan, who has been enjoying some top results in his first track cycling races at a major championships, was back in action on Sunday. The Men’s C4 rider was competing in the MC4-5 Scratch Race, finishing eighth overall – but third fastest C4 bike. Unfortunately, this did not result in a medal for the Scott-Orwell Wheeler, as medals were awarded for the overall category winners solely.