Irish National Criterium Championships, Mullingar
The National Criterium Championships took place in Mullingar on Friday night, hosted by Lakeside Wheelers.
The Women’s event was a demonstration event for this year with the aim of making it a full Championship event in 2019. Orla “ever green” Hendron was the lone Scott Orwell Wheeler woman to make the trip west.
Fiona Guihen of Black Rose Racing made an early break and went to take a strong solo victory. Orla led the chase for much of the race, working hard to escape and bridge across. Jennifer Bates of Team Gerard-DHL set the tone for a good night for her team with a 2nd place while Lyndsay Bryce of Dublin Wheelers took third. In the end Orla finished a valiant 4th.
1. Fiona Guihen, Black Rose Racing
2. Jennifer Bates, Team Gerard-DHL
3. Lyndsey Bryce, Dublin Wheelers
4. Orla Hendron, Scott Orwell Wheelers
In the men’s race - which was a full Championship Race - Scott Orwell Wheelers were represented by Paul Forristal, Bryan Geary and Callum O’Toole.
The field was full of quality riders including. Ex National Champ Damian Shaw and Hammond TT winner Conn McDunphy of Holdsworth Racing to name only two.
Dillon Corkery of Team Gerard-DHL and Shaw broke clear of the field on the 4th lap and at one point the gap stretched to well over a minute. Darnell Moore of Team Caldwell Cycles was the only one to get close to the pair in the closing laps after he shook off the chasing group of about 6/7 which included Paul Forristal.
In the end Corkery took the win from Shaw on the line with Moore in 3rd and Scott Orwell Wheelers Paul Forristal in 8th.
1. Dillon Corkery, Team Gerard-DHL
2. Damian Shaw, Holdsworth Racing
3. Darnel Moore, Team Caldwell Cycles
Well done to all who raced and a special thanks to Stephen O’Shea for sending photos and news from the side lines.
The Sean Nolan Meath GP, promoted by the Navan Road Club
A small group of our senior racers headed for Meath at the weekend but unfortunately no one came away with any results. The closest we can get to a result is that Cahir O’Higgins very kindly gave Alexis Roche of Cotes d’Armor Racing a lift and he finished 6th in the A1 race;)
Luckily our Youth Racers had much better luck in the morning and came home with a nice collection of trophies!
In the under 14 race Ruairi almost made the breakaway, he got swallowed up by the chasing pack but did enough to secure 4th in the end. In the Under 16 race it seems team tactics did the job on the day! The plan was to secure a place for Conor and secure 2nd they did! Well done team.
Under 12:
3. Ryan Fox
Under 14 Boys
4. Ruairi Byrne
Under 14 Girls
2. Katie Reilly
Under 16:
2. Conor Murphy-Rodgers
8. Andrew Ryan
11. Ronan O'Connor
12. Dylan Baker
34th Trofeu Ciclista Pla De Mallorca
Lara Gillespie is currently in Mallorca training with the Irish Junior Squad. As part of their training they took part in a local race on Saturday the 17th of June. 129 participants signed on for the “short” race in Ariany. The pace was as hot as the weather with the average speed of the winning group just under 46kph!
Lara finished 8th overall (Martin O’Loughlin of Carrick on Suir was first) finishing in the lead group on the line. Lara took the overall win in the women's race, a race which contained members of the GB youth track team as well as some up and coming pro riders.
Well done Lara!
Club League Round 11 Club 10mile TT Championships
Batterstown on Thursday the 14th of June was the setting for the first of the Club Championship events this year – the 10 mile TT. Despite the strong cross winds it was a night of fast and close racing! A new women’s course record was set by Ciara Kinch and Paul Forristal missed out on the club record by only 6 seconds!
Women's medals:
1, Ciara Kinch, 24:04;
2, Yvonne Doran, 26:06;
3, Breda Horan, 26:21.
Men's medals:
1, Paul Forristal, 21:37;
2, Brian McNally, 22:01;
3, Dick O'Brien, 22:02.
NAAS CYCLING CLUB OPEN TT, Kilcullen
After the TT practice on Thursday a top class field of racers turned out in Kilcullen to race the Nationals course from 2016 – 38.2 km, a “challenging course”! Michael O’Loughlin of Team Wiggins showed he is on form with a great win in 49mins, 36.14secs – the only rider to go under 50mins for the event.
In the Women’s race Eve McCrystal was on still on the form that saw her win the Hammond TT last weekend and took the women’s title and second A2 with a time of 54’43.23
Some of the standout Scott Orwell Wheeler Results -
9th overall was Eoin Byrne, 55’09.27
10th overall and 1st A3 was Balazs Galambos, 55’21.38
4th Woman Yvonne Doran, 1:04’39.27
7th woman Breda Horan, 1:06’51.74
9th woman Charlotte Stevens, 1:07’52.71
IVCA RACING:
2 races in the IVCA league last week. On Tuesday the 12th the league took to the roads of Meath. The course was to have been Doreys Forge but thankfully/unfortunately there were reports of gravel on the road so the Summerhill Short Circuit was used instead. The only Scott Orwell Wheeler results of the night came in Race 3 where Romano Morelli was just beaten on the line into 2nd place and Terry Ryan held on for 4th place.
The race started quickly – a little too quickly as Race 3 seemed to be catching Race 2 - and so the senior member of the group took control of the situation and slowed things down long enough for race 2 to get away. There was some frustration in the group but it was short lived as people got to stretch their legs and burn off some energy quickly enough. Despite a few attempted breaks nothing stuck and the long wind up for the sprint started in Rathmoylan!
Photo thanks to Brendan Culleton
On Sunday the VETS raced the first Age Chase Pursuit of the year – The Founders 50. Racing the Summerhill Long Course racers were set off in order of age with the oldest going first and then in groups of 5 years all chasing flat out! Sean Lally ( Team Smart Lamp) managed to stay clear of the chasing hounds and held on for a fantastic first place. Just sneaking into the points on 10th was Rás Tailteann Team Manager Ken O’Neill proving that you should never give up on a sprint! Rumour has it that Ken was very active throughout the race never missing a turn on the front and causing much pain to others;)
TRACK - a separate Track Report will follow with a write up on the Spring League and the National Omnium Championships. Keep an eye out for Track Talk later today.
