McCrystal sets new national record for Ironman event in Barcelona

Bryan McCrystal

Local triathlete Bryan McCrystal set a new national record for the Ironman event in Barcelona on Sunday.

The Jenkinstown native, who runs Mint by Baldwins in Earl Street, came home in a time of 8 hours 41 minutes and 29 seconds in the Barcelona IronMan event.

That was enough for a very impressive 22^nd place in the international field despite coming straight off the back of the road racing season when his swimming and running training would have been minimal.

McCrystal put in a time of 1hr 2mins 47 secs for the 3.8km swim in Barcelona yesterday afternoon.

He followed that up with a time of 4hrs 17mins 11secs for the 180km bike leg; rounding out his effort with a time of 3hrs 18mins 30seconds for the 42.2km concluding run leg.

His bike leg was raced at an average of 41.99kph and was faster than any of the competitors who finished ahead of him.

Indeed, only former international bike rider Démétrio Fernandez from France was quicker than McCrystal on the bike.

The new Ironman national record holder, subject to ratification, competes in the colours of Team ASEA in the Irish peloton and won the new National Road Series this year.

His time in Barcelona was almost four minutes faster than the national record set by fellow local man Liam Dolan in Copenhagen two years ago.

Dolan, who has also since turned to cycling with local club Cuchulainn, set a time of 08:45:26.

McCrystal is a former pro football who played for Leeds United until injury cut short his career in England after four years.

He then played League of Ireland football with Dundalk FC before being hit by further cruciate knee ligament injuries.

Having then gone on to triathlon he quickly became an international before moving to cycling.

Dolan goes close to first win of the year in Tour of the Mournes

Liam Dolan competing in the Tour of the Mournes on Sunday

Cuchulainn Cycling Club’s Liam Dolan went very close to taking his first win of the year in the Tour of the Mournes on Sunday last.

The 155km cycle saw the 80 strong field tackle some rolling countryside on a warm but blustery day. After 35km Dolan found himself part of a six man escape group, which by the end of the day was whittled down to just Dolan and Dave Hamilton of North Down CC.

The pair drove to the finish with a minute over the remains of the main bunch, where Hamilton pipped Dolan for the win. Colm Quinn also had a good result with ninth position overall.

Both Colm and Liam will be on the start line this Sunday for the An Post Rás, which starts in Dunboyne. The eight-day international cycle race will see a stage finish in Drogheda on Saturday May 23rd.

The Bike Station Summer Cycling League continued this week with the course being out to Ardee, across the link road and home through Castlebellingham. It was another big turn out with 84 riders signing on across the two races.

The first race off was once again a bunch sprint with the three groups finally coming together before Kilsaran. As the line fast approached on the Fane Bridge, round one winner Val Gargan was again the quickest, outsprinting Alan Bingham for the win with Kenny Sullivan in third.

The second race was a master class in pacing from Johanna Rogan who rode away from the rest of group one and held off the fast moving riders behind to take the win. Gavin McDermott was next home winning the sprint for second place ahead of underage sensation Connor McKeown. Catherine Sands’ good riding meant another lady was in the top five. Group three, meanwhile, never bridged the gap to the leaders so had to settle for the minor placings.

The Mountain Bike League is also in full swing and round four returned to Bellurgan Park. The recent rainfall made for real testing conditions for the riders. Like the Bike Station league, this league also operates two races a night such are the numbers.

In race one Liam Burns was in flying form on his new stead and took a victory from Aaron McCann, who was unlucky to have a mechanical on the last lap while closing in on Burns. Niall O’Flaherty was third.

In race two PJ Hynes was well ahead of the chasing pack cruised in to take first place with a few minutes to spare ahead of John Kane in second and Paul Durnin rounding out third. Round five returns to the wilderness of the open mountain.

The Tour of Louth, Cuchulainn’s annual sportive is to be held Sunday May 31st and again expects to attract a big field to tackle the 110km of scenic Co Louth countryside. The route will follow the usual format of out towards Dunleer, across to Ardee, back to Dundalk before heading around Carlingford via the tough climb at Jenkinstown. There will also be a shorter 50km route on the day. Dowdallshill GAA club is the sign on location.

Finally under the stewartship of Philip Kerley, an underage cycling group has begun to meet every Monday night at 6.45pm at Muirhevnamor Community Centre. Riders aged 11-15 years are welcome, along with their parents to tackle 20km to 25km of cycling with experienced guides.

Aiden McDonald shows off his MTB skills in the first round of the Off Road League

Aiden McDonald in action in the Mountain Bike League in Bellurgan Park

Tuesday last saw the commencement of Cuchulainn’s 2015 Mountain Bike League in Bellurgan Park.

Under the stewardship of Liam Burns, 33 riders signed on for the first night of action. From the flag drop, off road expert Aiden McDonald took the lead, which he continued to build upon over the three laps, to take the win from Andrew Baldwin in second and Niall O’Flaherty in third.

As is always the case in off road racing there were a few mechanicals and punctures but all 33 riders made it home safely. The league will continue every Tuesday night over the summer.

This Thursday night April 23rd sees the start of the Bike Station Summer Cycling League. The first night of racing will see the riders sign on at the Geraldines pitch in Haggardstown and race out to Dunleer and back.

On the open racing front, the weekend was a hive of activity for the club’s road racers. On Saturday evening Colm Quinn took the first A2 rider in the main event, the 50km handicapped race.

On Sunday the main action was the Visit Nenagh Classic in the Tipperary town. The 160km route featured seven categorised climbs and attracted all of Ireland’s top riders and a Dutch team. Bryan McCrystal was fourth home in the gruelling race with Cuchulainn’s Liam Dolan not far behind in seventh.

Eve McCrystal won the ladies support race, which featured a very strong field, including an international Welsh Team. Sunday also saw Drogheda host another race and in the A3 event Val Gargan came home in the bunch sprint to claim fourth position.

McCrystal triumphs in New Year’s Eve Time Trial

Lisa Neary (1st Cuchulainn Woman), Michael Clarke (Prop. Carrick Cycles), Eve McCrystal (Winner) and Martina Carey (2nd Cuchulainn Women) following the New Year’s Eve Time Trial

The old Dublin road was the setting for the annual Carrickmascross Cycles New Year’s Eve Time Trial and a relatively mild day saw almost 25 riders sign on to tackle the 10 mile course that went out and back to Castlebellingham.

The women’s race was dominated once again by Eve McCrystal, with a finishing time of 24:25. Eve was using the event as a tester before some track championships for the ParaOlympics at the end of January. Rachel Withers of Adamstown Cycling Club was second in 31:30, closely followed by Cuchulainn’s Lisa Neary, who will take the club title. Martina Carey was the second Cuchulainn club woman home.

In the men’s race 2012 winner Niall Clarke set a blistering time of 21:23 to take the win by almost a minute from 2013 winner Liam Dolan. Third place went to John Fitzpatrick of Canningstown, Cavan. John is no stranger to racing in Dundalk having completed in the 2014 FPM Accountants Summer Cycling League. Third clubman was Richard Murphy in 24:26. Conor McKeown was first junior rider in a fast time of 27:59, just slipping under the 28 minutes.

On Sunday January 11th, Cuchulainn Cycling Club is hosting an introduction to mountain biking spin. Experienced club members will be on hand to show new comers the ropes and will meet at The Lumpers Pub at 9:30am

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.

Dolan claims top six finish in Wexford

Liam Dolan completing the final stage of a rain soaked Wexford 2 Day

Wexford was the destination for many of Irelands’ road cyclist when Wexford Wheelers promoted the Wexford 2 Day, a three stage event held over the Saturday and Sunday. Three different events were run, the main event for the A1 & A2 category, an A3 and Junior category and an A4 event.

Cuchulainn had riders competing in all three events, with Liam Dolan and Sean Loughran lining up in the main event. Both Dundalk men finished in the main field in Saturday’s 115km road stage and performed well in the afternoon’s 4km mountain time trial, a gruelling event despite the short distance. On Sunday, the sunshine of the day before was replaced with rain as the riders tackled the final 105km stage. At the 20km mark Dolan made it into a large breakaway of 10 riders, which were not to be seen by the main bunch for the rest of the day. In the sprint for the finish Dolan finished a disappointing 9th, but the time gained was enough to see him move up into 6th position overall.

In the A3 & Junior event, Dundalk’s junior rider Nathan McGrane finished up in 24th overall and 6th placed junior. In the A4 event Fran Egan of Cuchulainn, in his first ever stage race, rode strongly all weekend to finish up in 30th position.

The week ahead is a big one for Cuchulainn Cycling Club when on Thursday the club promotes the Leinster and Louth Hill Climb Championship. The event, run up Jenkinstown Hill, is a gruelling event and Dublin’s James Davenport is bound to return to defend his Leinster title. For the Louth title the favourites will be defending champion Ray O’Shaughnessy, Alan Bingham and Tomas McCabe. On the women’s front Annette Dolan will be looking to reclaim her title.

On Sunday the club is hosting the Skoda Challenge Sportive, a 120km cycle event which takes in the best scenery in the county. Over 500 riders are expected to compete in the event, which is part of a series of cycle challenges which have been held in Kerry, Waterford, Donegal and Wicklow throughout the year

Grey triumphs at National Championships for third time in four years

Martin Grey

For the third time in four years Cuchulainn Cycling Club’s Martin Grey has won the National Championships in his age category.

This year Martin took the gold medal in the 60-69 age group as part of the Irish Veteran Cyclists Association National Championships. Martin was active from the gun and was part of a five man group that went away early in the race. The group worked well together to establish a lead and in the final 15km Martin attacked to take a solo win, to add to his two other gold medals and a silver from 2013.

In a separate age category, Jimmy Flynn went agonisingly close to a medal when he was fourth man across the line in a close knit sprint. Brendan Dunne, Aidan Delaney, Damien Faulkner and Dale Copas all finished comfortably in the main bunch in their own races.

Open racing was held in Dunboyne, Co Meath on Sunday. The main race was 120km long and Cuchulainn’s Colm Quinn and Liam Dolan were racing. With 80km to go Dolan found himself in the day’s breakaway of 10 riders.

As the race drew to a close the break was quickly being brought back by the main bunch when Dolan managed to escape again with Sean McKenna of Dublin’s UCD and Alistair McCauley of Phoenix Cycling Club in Belfast. They stayed away to the line with McKenna taking the win ahead of McCauley and Dolan in third. In the support race both Tomás McCabe and Aidan Cunningham finished in the top 20

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.

Successful weekend for local cyclists

Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal – winner’s of the female tandem gold medal

Dundalk cyclists had a successful weekend at the national championship held in Mullingar, picking up two gold medals.

First up in the men’s tandem time trial Bryan McCrystal and James Brown went quickest to claim the gold, while in the women’s tandem time trial Eve McCrystal and Katie George Dunleavy claimed the gold. Both of the McCrystal siblings have been involved in the Paralympic programme for some months now and are building towards the Olympics in Rio 2016.

Unfortunately a tragic road accident on Saturday morning saw the cancellation of the Vets and Women’s Road Race Championships on the Saturday. Here Eve would have been amongst the favourites to podium. While in the vets race, Cuchulainn had sent a strong team, spearheaded by the inform Alan Bingham would have hopefully been in the hunt for the team prize.

The men’s road race did go ahead on the Sunday and the field tackled a 171km race, where Ireland’s top professionals including Tour de France stage winner Dan Martin and former world track champion Martyn Irvine, lined up with the best domestic based riders. Early in the race Bryan McCrystal got himself into a break of eight riders that stayed away to the end. With 30km to go 19 year old Ryan Mullen rode away to a solo victory and claimed the national champions jersey. In the sprint for the remaining medals, McCrystal came agonisingly close to claiming a medal, but just missed out finishing in fourth place.

The latest round of the FPM Accountants Summer Cycling League saw the six groups race out to Greenore and back. A fast night of racing saw a small group of scratch riders catch all in front of them, with Alan Bingham taking the win ahead of Niall Clarke in second and Liam Dolan in third.