Golden moment for Ian
A BUSY week of cycling across the country included a number of successes for local riders - notably at the National Track Championships on Saturday.
The country’s top riders assembled at the Eamonn Ceannt Stadium in Dublin where the UCD team, which included Slane man Ian Richardson along with Eoin Morton, Simon Jones and Conor Murnane, took the gold medal in the four-man Team Pursuit Championship, and in doing so created a new Irish record of 4:38.
Over Saturday and Sunday there were two races held within 8km of each other, but in two different counties, Cavan and Meath.
On Saturday night, Navan Road Club promoted the Mountnugent GP, which was held over 10 laps of a local circuit.
Here, one of Meath’s most talented young riders, Luke Smith from Moynalty, competing with the Nicolas Roche Performance Team, disseminated the entire field of riders by escaping up the road and riding solo to take a brilliant victory with one minute and 40 seconds to spare over his rivals.
Then, on Sunday, moving back into Co Meath, the Oldcastle GP was the main event of the day. The race was held over a distance of 100km, covering five laps of a 20km circuit which was described as ‘undulating’. It was also held on a handicap basis, with the Senior A3 and Juniors getting an advantage of two minutes over the main field.
At the end of the first lap, the riders had all come together and it was not until the half-way mark that the main break of the day formed. This break of four riders included two Juniors, Luke Smith and Conor Gallagher from Castlebar, along with Mark Reilly from Summerhill and Donegal man Christopher Birney.
When the bell rang out, signalling the start of the final lap, the leading break of four had a nice lead of one minute 45 seconds over the chasers and were distancing themselves even further.
Coming up the long finishing straight to the finish line, the four riders were still together and in no danger of being caught and they began to watch each other and play ‘cat and mouse’ tactics, trying to force someone to jump forward.
Eventually with just 200m to go, it was the young Smith who broke ranks and went for a flyer. With breathtaking speed he was approaching the finish line, but with just the last 40m to go disaster almost struck for Smith when his gears broke and he was left with no choice but to free-wheel to the line, which he did.
Luckily for him, he had enough of a gap and speed to get his bike across the line to claim victory by half a length from the fast-finishing Reilly (Lucan CC). Alan Malone from Ardee CC finished first in the Senior A3 section.
On Wednesday in Denmark, there was super excitement for the Irish supporters at the European Time Trial Championships when Ryan Mullen collected the bronze medal, finishing just five seconds behind the gold medal winner. Ryan is a former member of Navan Road Club and his family members still reside just outside Duleek.
Emmett Gorman from Stamullen Road Club was recently crowned the first-ever Ferdia Cycling League champion, following his overall win in the Ardee Cycling Club Summer League. Clubmate Gary Gorman was second, with Richie McMullen and David McMahon from the host club fifth and sixth and Barry Hughes of Drogheda Wheelers eighth.
The hard-working Ardee CC were delighted with the outstanding success of this inaugural League and have vowed to continue to promote this event in 2018. The chairman was on hand to thank everybody who helped steward the nine-week event, the Lead Car Drivers, Ambulance Crew and the cyclists who turned up in their droves to support the League.
The McNally Swords Summer League continues and is proving to be a huge success for the cyclists who like to keep their fitness level sharp and this midweek league provides the perfect platform.
On Wednesday night, Race 17 was contested over four laps of the Clonalvy/Garristown circuit and victory in the A Race went to Stamullen Road Club rider Sean Landers. BASKETBALL CAMP