Birthday boy Sean lands two presents
IT has been a particularly good week for Stamullen Road Club’s Sean Landers, who celebrated his 19th birthday on Tuesday, took gold in the Leinster Senior A3 Hill Climb title on Thursday and went on to complete a magnificent double by winning the Leinster Senior A3 Road Race Championship on Saturday.
The Leinster Hill Climb Championships, promoted by Cuchulainn CC, took place at Jenkinstown Hill north of Dundalk, and among the local medal winners that evening were Arek Klus (Stamullen Road Club, gold in the Senior A1 event), Ardee CC’s Tomas McCabe (gold in the Senior A2 championship), Sean Landers from Stamullen (gold in the Senior A3), Alan Malone from Ardee CC (silver in this Senior A3), with the bronze medal going to Dermot Healy from Drogheda Wheelers CC.
The Ladies championship resulted in a clear win for Dundalk-based Eve McCrystal from Garda CC. Orla Walsh from the Orwell CC took the silver medal, with a tie for the bronze between Claire Ludlow from Ardee CC and Celine McPhillips from Cuchulainn CC.
The Junior (under-18) race saw Jack O’Donnell from Drogheda Wheelers win bronze.
The Louth men’s championship winner was Tomas McCabe from Ardee CC, with clubmate Alan Malone in bronze medal position, while Eve McCrystal (Cuchulainn CC) took the ladies championship honours.
Then on Saturday, the action switched to Dunsany, County Meath, where the Leinster Road Race Championships were being staged.
Riders appeared in their droves to line up to take part in the various events, which catered for Senior A1, A2, A3, Junior, Veterans and Ladies, plus a supporting (non-championship) Senior A4 race.
The championship races were held over five laps of a 17km circuit and the racing conditions were just perfect.
Throughout the entire race, racing was extremely fast and this was mainly due to the flat nature of the circuit, with only one small climb to handle.
Many groups tried to escape off the front of the bunch, only to be brought back again, but just past the half-way mark a group of nine riders did manage to detach themselves off the front of the race and these riders worked well together, keeping a nice gap of 1 minute 20 seconds ahead of the chasers.
With about 10km of racing remaining, Philip Lavery (H&R Block Pro Cycling Team) attacked his breakaway companions and set off with victory clearly on his mind.
Following his attack, the remaining break began to disintegrate and on arrival at the finish Lavery crossed the line with a comfortable winning margin.
Because of Lavery’s A1+ status, meaning that he rides with a professional team, he was not eligible to qualify for a medal and prior to the start of this race Philip and all the senior race competitors were totally aware of this situation and accepted the ruling.
In Lavery’s absence, riders who presented themselves for the podium presentation included Summerhill native Mark Reilly (Lucan CC), who took gold in the Senior A1 championship after out-sprinting Stamullen RC’s Cian Delaney.
The Senior A2 championship resulted in a great win for in-form McNally Swords CC rider Ciaran Handley,
As previously mentioned, Sean Landers from Stamullen RC took the gold medal in the Senior A3 and in the Senior A4 non-championship race - which was held over three laps - Drogheda Wheelers CC cyclist Jack O’Donnell finished in second place.