Top cyclists descend on Dundalk for Leinster Time Trial Championships

Linda Stokes winning Round 9 of the Bike Station League ahead of Jamie O’Hare and Cyril Sherry

Last Friday night Leinster’s top cyclists descended on Dundalk for the Leinster Time Trial Championships.

The course was the 16km route starting at Felda Gym, going out to Castlebellingham and back in again. The light rain and breeze meant that fast times were expected on the night and Colm Cassidy of Cork’s Aqua Blue did not disappoint, setting a new course record of 19mins 36secs for the distance.

However as Cassidy rides for a Cork club he was not eligible for the Championship, which meant that Summerhill man Mark Reilly took the gold with a time of 21mins 20sec. Niall Clarke took silver with a time of 21mins 20sec. Taking the bronze medal was another Cuchulainn man Colm Quinn with a 21:28.

Ciara Kinch was the ladies champion, ahead of Cuchulainn’s Celine McPhilips and Hannah Ormesher in third.

The latest round of the Bike Station Cycling League saw Linda Stokes take her first win in race two. Linda was part of a strong group which took maximum advantage of their handicap to stay away.

Jamie O’Hare was in second, Cyril Sherry in third, Kathleen Byrne was fourth and Jason Boyle rounded out the top five. In race one the first group off also worked well together to stay away for the win. Sean McEvoy won the sprint ahead of Alex McDonnell and Eamonn McKeown.

At the half way stage of the league Alan Bingham, tops the leaderboard with four points to spare over Alan Malone.

Kilboy takes top honour at Cuchulainn Cycling Club awards

Philip Kerley presents Kathleen Byrne with her “Hero of the Year” award

On Friday night Cuchulainn Cycling Club held their annual prizegiving and Christmas night in the Spirit Store.

Karl Dolan acted as MC on the night and presided over the awarding giving ceremony. The big award on the night as always was the volunteer of the year award. A club the size of Cuchulainn, with over 350 members, requires exceptional people to give up their free time in order to keep the club progressing. This year’s recipient was Pat Kilboy, in recognition of the huge amount of work he does, especially with newcomers to the sport.

Every Saturday morning Pat hosts a cycle, which has become known as “Pat’s Saturday morning coffee spin”. Each and every week Pat will post up details on Facebook of the coming Saturday’s ride, the distance and most importantly where the coffee and cake stop will be! The cycle’s leisurely pace and relaxed atmosphere had been the introduction to cycling for many in the club.

The group is a mix of newcomers and the more experienced and Pat is always there to share some of his cycling knowledge, which is rivalled only by is knowledge of local history. If you pass a landmark Pat will know when, who and why it was built. Also if he ever gets round to writing a guide to the surrounding cafe’s you can be guaranteed it has been well researched!

The next big award of the night was the “Hero of the Year” award, presented to someone who has gone above and beyond in their dedication to the sport. This year’s winner was Kathleen Byrne.

In early June while competing in the Wicklow 200k cycle, in horrendous conditions, Kathleen collided with a wall at over 40km while descending the Shay Elliott climb. The injuries she sustained were horrific and saw her spend a considerable amount of time in hospital. Once released Kathleen’s mobility was severely impacted and she had to wear a back brace for a number of months. Unperturbed by her injuries Kathleen was determined to get back on her bike and by November was brave enough to again get back on two wheels and meet up with her friends in the club.

Other awards on the night were to Gary Gorman and Annette Dolan for winning the men’s FPM Accountants League and the women’s Bike Station league respectively, while Robbie Duffy took the Mountain Bike League and Colm Quinn the Galibier Clothing Time Trial league. Thomas McCabe and again Annette Dolan were crowned Louth Hill Climb Champions. Niall Clarke and Celine McPhilips won Louth time trial Championships, while Fiona Rogers and Nathan McGreehan won the Louth Road Race Championships. Female cyclist of the year was Janet Conlon, while Liam Dolan took the male award. Most improved female cyclist was Julie Bellew, while the men’s went to underage rider Conor McKeown. The mountain biker of the year was Johnny McCabe.

The biggest section in the club is the leisure cyclists and Barry Rogers was crowned leisure cyclist of the year. A special medal was presented to the 19 cyclists who were brave enough to attempt the Room to Heal “No Sweat Challenge”. Conceived by Francis Dollard, this 160km route around the Cooley Mountains includes over 2,500m of climbing.

Rogers claims first Louth title

Fiona Rogers winner of the Louth Women’s Road Race receiving her medal

Last week the county’s best female riders lined up for the Louth Road Race Women’s Championship and when the dust had settled Fiona Rogers had claimed her first Louth title after an extremely impressive performance.

Fiona was the winner of the 2013 Women’s League but injuries had derailed the defence of her league crown. Putting the injury set back behind her, Fiona targeted the championships, gearing her training towards the event. On the night she was much too strong for her fellow competitors, taking an impressive solo win, with Celine McPhilips leading the rest and Debbie Lundy claiming the bronze.

Open racing over the weekend was held in the county Meath town of Mullagh, with Moynalty Cycling Club hosting their first race on an undulating 29km circuit. First up it was the underage racing and Cuchulainn picked up to results with Conor McKeown taking second place, while Kevin Traynor was fifth in his race. In the senior races the A4s tackled two laps of the circuit and despite the hills it came down to a bunch sprint. In the chaos of the fast finish Gary Mortan picked the right line and times his sprint to almost perfection to take 3rd place in a finish which required a photo finish to determine the order of the first three riders. This result coupled with his results from earlier in the season sees Gary upgraded to the A3 category.

The FPM Accountants Summer Cycling League is up to round 13, with just five events to go. The most recent race finished with the steady climb from Davy’s Pub up to the Long Woman’s Grave. By the bottom of the climb group six had caught group five in front. Once on the climb Alan Bingham attacked bringing with him a number of riders. As the mountain dragged on this group drove a fierce pace catching all those left out front. As the line approached Alan Bingham, Tomas McCabe and Liam Dolan had ridden away from everyone else, with Owen Martin being the last to loose contact. In a close sprint Dolan took the victory ahead of Bingham and McCabe.

On Wednesday last Cuchulainn hosted the Leinster 25mile Time Trial Championships. Racing from Carrickmacross to Ardee and back Stamullen’s Cian Deleney was fastest on the night with a time of 54mins and 24 seconds. Cuchullain riders to pick up medals across the different categories were Colm Quinn (Silver A1) Owen Martin (Vet silver)  and Tomas McCabe (A3 Bronze).

Annette claims women’s league

Annette Dolan winning Round Seven of The Bikestation Women’s League

Last week saw the final round of the Bikestation’s Women’s League, which was a 10 mile time trial that also doubled up as the Louth Women’s Time Trial Championship.

When the points had been added up over the eight rounds, Annette Dolan’s dominance over the course of the league became evident when she had a 19 point lead over second placed Celine McPhilips. Annette won three of the eight rounds and also notched up a second and third place, bagging herself a Louth silver medal in the time trial, behind winner Celine. Defending league champion Fiona Rogers was unlucky in defending her title, picking up an injury after the first few rounds. Joint third place went to Maeve McCabe, who won two rounds, and Janet Conlon. Rounding out the top five was Sarah Fagan.

Overall the league was a huge success, with over 30 riders signing on over the course of the league. Newcomers and the more experienced, raced side by side, with the handicapping ensuring an even contest every night. The women’s committee would like to thank sponsors The Bikestation and all the marshals. This Tuesday night sees the Louth Women’s Road Race Championships, where Fiona Rogers hopes to return to winning ways having overcome her injury.

Open road racing saw Cuchulainn’s riders head to the Meath village of Ballivor on Saturday night for a flat and fast 60km handicapped race. The club’s junior riders, Nathan McGreehan and Cuirthir and Aimhirghin O Brannagain, were active throughout the race, with Nathan taking the third placed junior while Cuirthir was unlucky to crash out in the final few kms. Nathan and Aimhirghin were using the race to fine tune their form ahead of the upcoming six day Junior Tour, where both will compete as part of the Leinster Cycling Team. Tomas McCabe was part of a breakaway with less than 15km to go that looked like it might stay away however it was pulled back. In the run into the finish Liam Dolan escaped with a number of other riders and took fifth place on the line.

Gollogly and Lennon take the honours in FPM Summer Cycling League

A group of Cuchulainn Cycling Club riders pictured at the recent Tour of Louth

As the summer continues so to does the FPM Summer Cycling League. At this stage seven of the 20 rounds have been completed, the most recent being held on the Carrickmacross-Ardee circuit.

In the first race group four managed to stay away from the pursuers with Declan Gollogly taking the win ahead of Seamus Ward and Johnny McCabe. Meanwhile in race two, Shane Lennon took the win ahead of Trevor Kane and Cronan O’Shuaghnessey.

Currently Mark Duffy sits atop of the league table for race one, while Trevor Kane leads race two. In overall terms Kane has a meagre four points to spare over Duffy. In third position is Mickey Stokes, with fourth place being occupied jointly by Alan Bingham and Declan Gollogly. With well over half the league still to come and the impact of summer holidays the final table could have a completely different look.

Meanwhile in the Bike Station Women’s League Annette Dolan continues to dominate winning the most recent round, a 10 mile time trial in a time of 25:33, ahead of Janet Conlon and in joint third Kathleen Byrne and Sarah Fagan. With three rounds left Dolan leads from Celine McPhilips and Helen Bennett.

Last Sunday saw a large number of Cuchulainn’s leisure cyclists head to Wicklow for the biggest sportive of the year, the Wicklow 200. This event sees the riders tackle 200km of tough mountainous roads in Ireland’s garden county. It tackles climbs such as the Sally Gap and Shay Elliott. While the finishing times varied between the Dundalk men and women, a good day was had by all.

While Cuchulainn’s leisure cyclists were in Wicklow the club’s racing cyclists headed to Navan for the Sean Nolan Grand Prix. In the A3 race Stephen Carry took sixth position. This is Carry’s first result as an A3 having started the season as an A4. Also in the A3 race Aimhirghin O Brannagain had a strong race finishing in the main bunch in the same time as the winner. Also in action was Fran Egan in his first A4 race of the season. Annette Dolan was competing in the women’s race, but herself and another competitor were unlucky to take a wrong turn and add a further 10km to an 82km race.

Barry is second amateur to finish An Post Rás

Michael Barry, who finished as second amateur overall in the An Post Rás, leading a bunch on stage four heading into Kerry

Sunday saw the end of the An Post Rás in Skerries after eight days of racing around Ireland. The overall victory went to the Austrian Clemens Fankhauser of the Trolie Austrian Professional Cycling Team. As always, the European-based professionals dominated the race with the first Irishman being Banbridge’s Sean Downey, who rides for the An Post Sean Kelly Pro Cycling Team.

With over 90 professionals in the race Louth’s Michael Barry, a Lieutenant based in Dundalk’s Aiken Barracks had a superb race to finish in 28th position overall and was second amateur. Barry, originally from Dublin, was competing in his fourth Rás and has been riding with Cuchulainn Cycling Club since relocating to the Aiken Barracks in 2012.

Stage two was the first day that Barry made his mark when despite crashing early on and being hit by a car, he managed to finish in the chase group. Each day Barry was in the thick of the action and in the end was only 3:30 off the amateur leader’s jersey, which was taken by Mullingar’s Damien Shaw.

Louth Rás debutants Alan Grey and Niall Clarke battled well throughout the week and can now call themselves “Men of the Rás”. Other Louth riders Sean Loughran and Liam Dolan were unlucky to succumb to a virus that swept through the race and abandoned on stage four with another 10 riders also suffering with similar symptoms. Ray O’Shaughnessey has clocked up another race and had some good rides during the week.

The Bike Station’s Women’s League continued this week and it was another dominating performance by Annette Dolan to sweep all in front of her and take the win for the second week in a row. Moynalty’s Helen Bennett was in second position with Kathleen Byrne rounding out the podium.  On the points board Dolan has a healthy nine point lead over Celine McPhilips, with Bennett in third. However with six rounds still to go there is still a lot to play for.

Annette triumphs in women’s cycling league

The Bikestation Women’s League winners, L-R: Celine McPhilips (3rd), Annette Dolan (1st) and Fiona Rogers (2nd)

After the torrential rain of last week, dry skies awaited the ladies for the first round proper of the Bikestation Women’s Cycling League.

Over 20 riders signed on and were split into four different groups. Group 1 saw a unique pairing in Mairead Caraher and Maeve McCabe in that Maeve thought Mairead PE in Ballybay secondary school back in her schooling days. The duo worked to good effect and were last to be caught by the express train that was Annette Dolan and Fiona Rogers. These two started in the last group and quickly shed their accomplices to catch all in front of them. In the sprint for the line Annette took a commanding win ahead of Fiona. Celine McPhilips led the next group home, taking third place ahead of Clones cyclist Tracy McConky.

Moynalty Cycling Club riders Helen Bennett and Bronagh Gaffney took the next two spots. The race was a great success and a number of newcomers, such as Martina Carey and Nicola Jordan enjoyed great debuts. The action continues every Tuesday night for the next five weeks.

Meanwhile, the FPM Accountants Summer Cycling League is up to round five, the most recent race being the tough circuit that finishes at the Long Woman’s Grave. In Race 1 underage rider Lorcan Kilkenny took his second win of the league beating Shaun Paul O’Shaughnessy and Thomas McElroy. In race 2 Tómas McCabe took a hard fought win ahead of Alan Bingham, with Nathan McGreehan in third.

At this stage at the  top of the leader board is Trevor Kane from race 2. Trevor has a slim three points to spare over Mickey Stokes, with Mark Duffy a further two points back. Things are all very tight with only 10 points separating the first 12 riders. In total 119 riders have scored points at this stage and with 13 events to go it is too early top start putting your money down.

Finally, last Thursday the FPM League took a one week hiatus for the Louth Road Race Championships. The 52km course saw the riders head out to Carrick, across to Ardee and home. With the An Post Rás starting this Sunday a lot of the club’s riders chose to skip the event, however this didn’t make the racing any easier. Over 50 riders signed on for the mass start event and as the riders left Carrickmacross a breakaway group emerged with all of Cuchulainn’s top junior talent on show with Nathan McGreehan and brothers Aimhirghin and Cuirithir O Brannagain present. These three, along with Tómas McCabe, David Holland, Richard Murphy and Peter Tomany drove the break along to establish a gap over the main bunch, which stretched out to just over a minute by the end. In the sprint for the line Nathan took the win ahead of Tómas in second and David Holland in third.

Cuchulainn riders preparing for An Post Rás

Sean Loughrane, who will be making his Rás debut on May 18th, finishing stage 2 of the Tour of Ulster, ahead of Ciaran Power, Rás winner in 1998 and 2002

Sunday May 18th sees the An Post Rás roll out from Dunboyne, from where the riders will cover 1,260km over 8 stages with 36 categorised climbs. Unfortunately the route will not be coming close to the North East, with the closest being the eighth and final stage which finishes in Skerries on May 25th.

As always the race has attracted a stellar international field with over half of the 180 strong peleton made up of professional teams from Europe and the UK. The remaining 90 riders constitutes the best of the Irish domestic cyclists, who will be going toe to toe with the professionals.

For the third year running Cuchullainn Cycling Club will be entering a team. The Louth team consists of local riders Ray O’Shaughnessey, Michael Barry, Niall Clarke, Alan Grey, Sean Loughrane and Liam Dolan. They will be joined on the 10 man team by Newry’s Roger Aiken, Cormac Clarke and Des Wood. The final rider is Bohermeen’s Chris Reilly. The team is a mix of veterans and first timers, with the undoubted star being Roger Aiken. Aiken won a stage for Louth back in 2005 and was one of the standout performers in the 2013 race. The club men have been racing the length and breath of the country since late February and have tackled events such as the 4 day Rás Mumhan in Kerry at Easter and the recent 3 Day Tour of Ulster, held in Derry.

Another Dundalk man who will most definitely be in the thick of the action is Bryan McCrystal, riding with Cork’s AquaBlue team. McCrystal has been in commanding form this season, taking an epic win in Carlow’s Des Hanlon and stage wins in both the Rás Mumhan and Tour of Ulster, where he finished 2nd overall. All the riders will have to call on every ounce of energy and reserves over the 8 days so as to become “Men of the Rás”.

Tuesday last saw the first round of The Bike Station Women’s cycling league for 2014. Despite a horrendous night of wind and rain, 22 cyclist signed on for the  five mile time trial. Quickest on the night was Celine McPhilips who bested Annette Dolan by 18secs. Third position went to Fiona Rogers a further 21secs behind Dolan. Tracey McConkey of Clones CC was the first visitor of the night.  A number of women made their competitive debuts, with impressive times posted by all. The next round, held every Tuesday, is a road race from Felda Gym to Dunleer and back.

The weather did little to improve by Wednesday night when the Galibier Time Trial league commenced. The first round of this league also doubled up as the Leinster Time Trial Championships. Quickest on the night was Dublin’s Colm Cassidy who averaged over 30mphs for the ride out to Castlebellingham and back, a distance of 10 miles. His team-mate in UCD, Con Collis, was second. Cuchulainn claimed medals with Niall Clarke (A2 Gold), Owen Martin (A3 Silver), Tomas McCabe (A3 Bronze), Aimhirghin O`Brannagain (Junior Bronze),and Celine McPhilips (Ladies, Silver). The next round of this league is May 28th.