Before we head to Bohermeen for our extended Waller Cup Reporting lets catch up with other racing action from the Club League, the Junior Track Championships and the IVCA League.
CLUB LEAGUE – Wednesday, Scratch & Semi Scratch with thanks to Garret Connolly
photo thanks to Gary Somers
In brief, Paul Forristal destroyed everyone – again!
14 scratch and 12 semi scratch racers signed on to race on a stunning blue sky night. Lulled into a false sense of security as Paul Forristal was heard claiming to be tired, his legs “wrecked” from a tough session the day before.
A generous handicap of almost a full lap was given, especially considering the tough conditions. There were block headwinds of 40-50kph straight into the racers every time they came up the finishing straight.
45 minutes and 5 laps was the target. 10 minutes in and Paul Forristal and Eoin “Zippy” Byrne were putting the hurt on and the scratch group was whittled down to only 6 riders! The semi scratch group keep working together well until the catch was made in the 17th minute. There is a rumour about that that is a record time for a catch with such a big handicap (may be slightly exaggerated as no official records exist!)
22 minutes in and the elastic snapped. Paul Forristal surged leaving 6/7 in group one, 2 in group 2 and 7/8 in group 3. Paul continued to attack and at around 25 mins he broke free and that was that!
Paul went on the lap all but 5 of the field (the other 5 placers) and spent 25 minutes out on his own in the wind. By the time Paul crossed the line in first place he was almost a full minute clear of the chasers having lapped 80% of the field. We may need to consider a 5th handicap group for the Club League if this continues – the Paul Group! Full results are available here - Club League Round 3 results
CLUB LEAGUE – Thursday, Limit & Semi Limit – or “The Attack of the Juniors”!
Unfortunately I don’t have as much detail as from Thursday night but there was still lots of exciting racing. Thanks to Owen O'Flaherty for filling in a lot of the details on the forum. To start with we had two firsts - sunshine and our first restart for a long time!
Newly promoted Dmitri Griffin mistakenly started with the wrong group. Having won his previous race Dmitri was supposed to start with the Semi Limit group and so the race was stopped and brought back to the line. It didn’t do any damage to Dmitri’s determination and he took off at full speed the second time of asking too!
He then picked up where he left off last week, pulling hard around a sunny Corkagh Park in ideal conditions and forcing a fast pace that meant that Limit were caught about halfway through. Our more seasoned racers seemed quite happy to let Dmitri “do a bit of work” - unfortunately, his work done, he then punctured out.
Once the catch was made the youth riders in the limit group found their turbo charge and the race lit up. Surges up the back rise and finishing straight on this reverse lap circuit, particularly by Barry Greene, then saw the slow shelling of riders that meant a reduced group of less than ten coming into the final two laps. Ruairi Byrne has obviously been watching his brother race a lot and if there had been a “combativity award” on the night then Ruairi would definitely have walked away with it!
Conor Murphy and Dyan Baker showed their early season racing in Scotland and at Ras na nOg had done them no harm by romping home in first and second place.
Junior Track National Championships, Saturday 21st April
Scott Orwell Wheelers were well represented on the track by flying three of Lara Gillespie, Dmitri Griffin and David Hearne. Lara Gillespie spent her birthday winning 4 gold medals and setting 2 new National Records! Lara currently holds 11 National titles between track, road and cyclocross!
Catch up on the full results here - Junior Track National Champs - Results
THE IVCA LEAGUE, Sunday 22nd April
Sunday the 22nd of April brought the vets to Dundalk for a race hosted by Cuchulain CC. The drive up didn't promise much in terms of weather, but luckily at the last minute the sun made an appearance and roads began to dry.
Numbers were slightly down on previous races -the weather forecast the most likely culprit so groups were combined from the start. The route was a 75 flat and fast out and back for races 1 and 2. Race 3 had the slightly shorter, but equally flat course at 50km.
The Orwell were well represented with Arthur Ebbs and the returning Spanish contingent, fresh from their "training camp" - Barry Redmond, Ciara Kinch and Terry Ryan, who came home 5th and collected some nice points for the league.
THE WALLER CUP, BOHERMEEN – THE EXTENDED REPORTS
Youths:
The on Sunday Conor's Murphy’s form held and he took 5th place in the highly competitive U16s race at the Waller Cup in Bohermeen. Highlight of the series was Caoimhe May winning both the girls U16 and the new Ladies Intermediate League Race . Brother Oisin added more silverware winning the U12 race and is showing that in addition to being a very strong rider he is learning his racing craft very quickly.
Annie Roche was 6th overall in the u14 race and Aine Reilly was 3rd unplaced girl in the u12 race. Sister Katie tumbled but remounted and still picked up 2nd place in the unplaced U14 girls
Dylan and Ronan were in the mix in the 16’s but missed out any envelopes that were going.
The A4, Ladies & Youth racers. Photo thanks to Gillian Baker
Moving on to the adults and John Wade is enjoying his first year in Open Racing and fresh from a good showing in the Club League on Thursday night he took on the A4 Race. This is his account of the race -
Every open A4 race has its challenges, and most start with that familiar sense of nervous excitement. There’s a bustle of chatter among the riders; there’s a jitter of adrenaline as the pace car begins to roll off the start line and riders begin to clip in and settle in to what they hope will be an exciting and challenging race. The Waller Cup race was no different and Orwell Wheelers was very well represented this Sunday with riders present in each category. Gillian Baker was on hand to capture a great team photo before we lined up at the start. It’s always nice to start the race surrounded by friends and familiar faces. The sun was also starting to come out, and like F1 drivers carefully choosing their tyres before a race starts, cyclists must also carefully choose which garment they will quite literally “pin their numbers to” – as once they’re pinned, that’s your outermost garment for the race. On this occasion, I had chosen to wear my trusty Hydra as I thought there were going to be some showers. However, as the sun started to beat down on us, and fellow riders were tossing jackets to the side lines, I realised I had perhaps over committed to the warm layers – no turning back now, we were about to start.
The pack rolled out at a steady pace all atwitch getting used to the close riding proximities that can only be experienced in road racing. And for some reason the riders were extra trigger-happy on their brakes today. Maybe it was the damp mud on the roads, maybe it was the early morning sunshine glinting on their fake Oakley shades, or maybe it was the fact that those new aero wheels really do make you roll faster than the guy in front. None the less we progressed out around the course and settled in to the race pace. The roads were mostly pock-marked, apart from one smooth climb on the N3, and most had a generous smattering of agricultural bi-product so that kept chit-chat to a minimum, lest you got a chunk of muck/slurry in your mouth.
The pace was steady overall, as the course was mostly flat, and no-one seemed to feel the need to form a break and any break that did attempt to get away was quickly reigned in. No, this was going to be four laps of “steady”, freewheeling and the occasional surge as we sprinted out of the corners.
About two laps into the race we were instructed to pull over to the side, stop riding and wait for the U16s to pass us, clearly the A4 race organizers had not accounted for our relaxed race pace when the planned the handicaps.
The inevitable bunch finish which has become all too familiar in courses of this style had everyone concentrating hard and working to get up to the front, a tall order on tight Meath lanes. As we began to round the second last corner a few of us cut in tight and got up to the front, the pace had now increased to a steady 40km/h into the head wind. There was no sheltering for me as I had stupidly rolled up too far and the chap to my right had no intention of sheltering me. Eric and Barry were right behind me and Killian and Jonathan C were safely in the middle of the bunch with Bernard.
As we progressed up the second-last straight Eric and the others caught and passed me, and the bunch rounded the final corner into the tight bottle-neck of the finish line. One lad from St. Tiernans got caught up in the excitement and lost his placing and hit the deck right in front of Eric, who also went down with one other, the others got around and managed to safely get clear and over the finish line.
There were no podium finishes for Orwell’s A4s but thankfully Eric still knows how to bounce and none of us swallowed too much slurry or muck. The Waller Cup posed several challenges but most of all it was a lesson in pacing, strategy, patience and wit. We will certainly be back next year, but I think I’ll ride a CX bike with goggles.
And finally, in the afternoon the A3 Race took to the roads. Thanks to Michael Hanley for this account
Where’s Waller?
Flat, flat, flat. All the early season races seem to be pan flat. I’m not exactly a climber, not much of anything if I’m honest. My cyclist profile is probably “pack fill” instead of “rouleur”. One thing I am definitely not is a sprinter, and the early season races have all been in favour of the fast men. At A3 level, this leads to a lot of negative racing. One big bunch rolling around for 2 hours, waiting for a sprint at the end. If it was televised on Eurosport, you’d fast forward to the last 10 minutes. Unless you are blessed with a big engine, attacks will likely not stick, but slide back with a whimper, like those IKEA suction cups supposed to keep the shower caddy on the wall. Why don’t they stick? They never stick!
Manuel and I discussed the course on the drive out. Windy, flat and fast was his summation. There was a great Orwell turnout again, especially in the A4 and under age races. In the A3 bunch we had myself, Colm O’Neill, Dan McElroy and the evergreen Eddie Lynch. The great attraction of racing is the camaraderie forged through hours of mindlessly following the wheels in front, forged in the temperate heat of A3 packfill. Every so often there will be a bright spark to light the fire. Although I didn’t race last year, I gather it was Paul Forristal, this year it’s looking like Colm O’Neill. Himself and Dan were up the front for the whole race and Colm got himself into a very good move.
When I saw a group start to chase them down, I moved up onto the wheels and sat in. Once they were caught, I decided that I’d prefer to be blown out the back and try instead of sitting in the bunch for the entire race. The attack was not really timed, I wasn’t paying attention to wind or looking for a stall in the bunch. I just decided that since Colm was caught, I’d try and move clear. Having no legs to speak of, I was completely dependent on other riders coming with me My reputation must have preceded me, as no one took the bait and I was allowed to hang out in front for a little bit.
Still feeling pretty good, I would repeat this lack of tactical awareness a few more times, and every time I would be allowed dangle, like the proverbial worm. When it came to the final few kilometres, I was still up near the front, but someone must have clicked the “play” button on the Eurosport recording because suddenly the bunch came alive and everyone started to fight for the space. I was losing a bit of ground but still in a decent position. Make a note for next year: Don’t be on anyone’s wheel into the final left hander (and maybe practice if a few times beforehand!)...the guy in front of me braked, I lost a few metres and coupled with my earlier efforts, I didn’t have much left to sprint with.
Race over, no placings for the Orwell. But the form is coming along and there is now a good bunch of us in A3. I expect a new revelation may be forthcoming in a couple of weeks!
