North East riders feature prominently on podiums

NORTH East riders once again featured prominently in the podium positions in last week’s cycle races - not least on Thursday night when Cuchulainn Cycling Club in Dundalk hosted the Leinster & Louth Hill Climb Time Trial Championships at Jenkinstown. These

These were held over a 1.6km tough climb and were very well supported in all categories, and in the Senior A1 category Colin Robinson from Stamullen Road Club finished third, while the top three in the Senior A2 category were Tomas McCabe from Ardee CC, Ciaran Handley from McNally Swords CC and Arek Klus of Stamullen RC respectively.

In the Senior A3, Dermot Healy from Drogheda Wheelers CC took the bronze medal and Craig Sweetman from Stamullen RC took the gold medal in the Veteran’s championship. while the gold medal in the Junior (under-18) category went to Lorcan Kilkenny from the promoting Cuchulainn CC.

The Louth Hill Climb Championships were also held at this same venue, with Tomas McCabe of Ardee CC finishing first, ahead of Dermot Healy (Drogheda Wheelers CC) and Paul Howard from Cuchulainn CC.

In the Ladies Louth Championship victory went to Johanna Rogan from Ardee CC, with Celine McPhillips (Cuchulainn CC) second and her clubmate Rosena Lynch third.

Up in Donaghadee, North Down Cycling Club held the North Down GP over a tough 90 mile course at the weekend.

At the end of this event, it was Mark Dowling from Team ASEA in Dundalk who came home ahead of the posse to claim victory in the final round of the National Series League.

Dowling was followed home by Sean Lacey from Aqua Blue club in Cork and it was he who claimed overall victory in this National Series.

Third rider home was Eoin Morton from UCD-Fitzcycles.ie.

On Saturday morning many riders from the North East travelled to Wexford to compete in the Stafford Wholesale 2-day race.

On arrival, the riders were greeting with heavy rain and strong winds and this was the format for the whole 2-day event, leaving all to believe that ‘the sunny south east’ is only a myth.

In the Senior A1-A2 race which was contested over a distance of 115km, it was Paul Kennedy from Newcastlewest CC who took the honours in a two-up sprint from Eoin O’Connell, Killarney CC.

Stamullen Road Club rider Colin Robinson put in a powerful performance and finished in third place.

This race, with a very strong entry of 84 riders, started off in horrific weather conditions and just 5km into the race there was a massive pile-up with many riders coming to grief.

Thankfully no one was badly injured but a lot of time was lost trying to reclaim bikes, and getting back into the race.

Then on Saturday evening stage two took place - a 3.4km testing Hill Climb - with all of the riders out in force again.

Here, Clonard Cycling Club’s young star Conor Leech, who is very quickly making a name for himself in the Junior ranks, had to secure special permission from the Race Commissaire to compete in this 2-Day race, but he scorched home in an incredible third place in a high-class field of top senior riders.

The final 103km stage was held on Sunday morning around the roads of New Ross, Enniscorthy and Wexford town.

Again, riders had to deal with miserable racing conditions throughout and the race stayed pretty much together until the final uphill sprint in Wexford town.

When the General Classification was sorted, Colin Robinson from Stamullen RC finished in fifth place.

This coming Saturday/Sunday Western Lakes CC will host the Bog Man 2-Day Race.