Triumph for local Ras trio
THERE were 155 competitors at the start, but only 120 finished after 1,200km of racing eight stages on eight consecutive days on the hardest roads Ireland has to offer.
That is the challenge of the Rás Tailteann. It takes months of preparation, and a team of knowledgeable and experienced people supporting you to make it to end of this race, and that’s exactly what three local riders completed on Sunday in Skerries.
One of the loudest roars of the day was heard as Drogheda Wheelers duo Barry Hughes and Niall Craven and Stamullen RC’s Arek Klus walked onto the podium to receive the prestigious medal and become, officially, a title every racing cyclist dreams of – A man of the Rás.
Surrounded by family, friends, fellow club members and plenty of local cycling enthusiasts, the three lads rolled across the line.
Last Sunday week a top-class field of international cyclists set off from St Peter’s Church on Drogheda’s West Street to commence the Rás.
With hundreds out to cheer the lads as they began the race, which started back in 1953, there was plenty of eyes on five local riders which made up the first Drogheda Wheelers team in the race for more than 30 years.
Niall Craven and Barry Hughes, both Wheelers members, were joined by Ballyboughal native Cian Delaney and Arek Klus from Stamullen RC along with Paul Smith from Waterford to make up the ‘Louth Jons SCME Dimplex Rás Team 2018’.
As they raced towards Donore and then onto Slane, the roads were packed with locals, including the family members of Barry and Niall, both natives of Donore. After 136km, which was the shortest distant of the week, all five rolled into Athlone to finish their first day.
The following three days saw the lads move southwards towards Munster, with stage finishes in Tipperary Town, Listowel and Glengarriff on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
It was on Monday, after only 50km of stage 2, that saw the Drogheda Wheelers-backed team lowered from five to four as Smith crashed in the rain and had to abandon the race.
Things seemed to be going from bad to worse when it came across the race radio that Niall Craven had crashed also, but fortunately he was not injured and continued to finish the stage.
The team then lowered again, just before the stage finish into Glengarriff, Co Cork, on Wednesday’s stage four as Delaney crashed, breaking several ribs and puncturing his lung.
This comes after a string of successes for Delaney, including consecutive top-10 finishes on eight of the first nine weekends of the season.
It was another major blow for the team, who had now lost 40% of their riders at only the half-way point.
After the finish on Wednesday, Hughes was quick to wish his teammate for the week a speedy recovery.
Thankfully, the crashing was to end there and the only challenge now for the team was the 20% time limit which is enforced on every stage. Thursday and Friday saw the lads finish into Mitchelstown and Carlow, while at the same time many of the international professional riders began to fight each other up the hills to attempt to take charge of the overall lead in the race.
This was felt no stronger than on Saturday. and Wheelers secretary Ger Campbell, who summed up each day for the team every morning to offer his insight into what was ahead, could only exclaim about Saturday’s stage 7 ‘There is a hard day’s cycling ahead’. Hughes remarked after the finish: ‘He was spot on!’.
Eight categorised climbs faced the lads on Saturday, on a stage which lasted just over 140km and brought them from Carlow over the Wicklow mountains, before the finish in Naas, Co Kildare. All three lads battled through one of the toughest days in Irish cycling history and Klus, who, along with Delaney had a very promising start to the season, was very unfortunate to puncture from the lead group but finished strong to lead the next group of riders into Naas.
Hughes and Craven finished just further afield, all inside the difficult time limit, and it was becoming apparent that the lads were going to make it to the finish line in Skerries.
However, they still had one more stage to face and the effects of Craven’s recent injury was becoming apparent after seven days of racing. Just four weeks prior to the start of the Rás he broke both his collarbone and shoulder in a crash which forced him off the bike until a mere couple of days before the event began.
With aching bodies, over 1,000km of racing completed and one goal in their mind, the smaller group of 128 competitors set off a week after its commencement for the final stage.
They reached Skerries after 115km and completed two laps of a 13km circuit before being cheered home by hundreds of supporters along the line. As soon as they finished, all three were surrounded by family and friends congratulating them on completing the most difficult race in Irish cycling. Craven and Hughes’ teammates from the Wheelers casted them as ‘heroes’ and explained how they simply could not believe that Niall had managed to complete the race after his fall a few weeks beforehand.
Speaking after the race, club chairman and team manager Andrew Watters congratulated the three lads on their performances and said it was an honour to be part of the experience. He also sent his best wishes to both Delaney and Smith, and encouraged them to look towards the 2019 event.
He concluded with his gratitude to his fellow team staff Anthony Connor, Benner Maguire and Austin Dennis, saying ‘It wouldn’t have been possible without these three!’
Secretary Ger Campbell echoed the wishes of Watters, adding his thanks to the sponsors of the club and those who came on board to assist with the team for the week, in particular Jons Engineering, SCME, Dimplex, The Thatch, Panda Power, Velo Revolution and Skoda Ireland.
The stars of the week were getting most of the attention as they posed for pictures after completing the Rás, but they made sure to thank the team they had behind them, along with their clubmates from both Drogheda Wheelers and Stamullen RC and the whole race organisation.
Lastly, before the departure of the crowds from Skerries, Ger Campbell, who was also the MC of the event, remembered Gabriel Howard and commented that everybody remembers him as the team complete this event and mentioned he was also a key part of the early preparation of the team.
Meanwhile, Drogheda Wheelers are starting to plan their Summer League, which remembers the memory of missed club member Mark Mullen. The league will kick off on Monday June 18th and run inclusive for the following five Mondays.