Tommy Brady Memorial

A move went just before half way with a few A1s including a Navan lad I moved after them. We were joined just before the strong tailwind main road section by a few more.

Looking at the make-up of the 15 man break I knew I was in the prizes as there were only 2 other A2s and 3 unplaced prizes so with petrol money sorted, I got on with concentrating on the race!

Bryan with strong man Dowling (photo with thanks to Pat Walsh)

With 1 km to go having jumped onto the back of one of the Navan lads attack, I found myself second on the road. We had a gap but my lack of confidence in holding out on a predominantly A1 break stopped me attacking. we slowed right down and the rest of the break caught us with 500m to go. At exactly the same time there was an attack by one of the Planet X lads and he was left go! There was no reaction and he had the gap of 75 metres and seemingly away for the win. We all got ready to sprint for second and the young Lucan lad Turlock-White jumped on the right. I jumped after him but was in too big a gear and lost 3 bike lengths to him but was closing all the while as the line approached. Coming to the line we saw the lone escapee putting his hands in the air but we all seemed to swamp him at the same time on the finish line. The Lucan lad was given the result by half a wheel, just catching out the embarrassed Planet X rider with me on his wheel and Joe Christian to the left inside me. Delighted to be competitive at that level but disgusted that I'd not trusted myself more to have a go on a finish that suited me.

The realisation of the premature celebration... with Bryan just behind (photo with thanks to Pat Walsh)