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.

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.