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.

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.

Bad luck for Barry as he crashes out of Shay Elliott Memorial in Wicklow

Michael Barry leads the break in Co Wicklow before crashing out on the slippy roads

It was another weekend of big racing for Ireland’s cyclists and those involved with the local Cuchulainn Cycling Club.

The premier event of the weekend was the Shay Elliott Memorial, a race that has been running for over 50 years held in memory of Ireland’s first professional cyclist and former yellow jersey wearer at the Tour de France. Held in Co Wicklow, the race covers 140km and features the dreaded Shay Elliott climb. The day was not made any easier by the constant wind and rain that battered the riders from start to finish.

Cuchulainn had five men line up in the race and Michael Barry was having a great ride before bad luck intervened and he crashed out of the winning break on a greasy bend, forcing him to abandon. The rest of the riders all came home in the main bunch after a very wet day with Alan Grey moving up in the sprint to take a top 10 position in the A2 Category.

On Sunday the action moved to County Meath’s Bohermeen, where the course was considerably flatter. In the A4 race Alan Bingham continued his recent good form and placed in the top six, which sees him earn enough points to move up a category to A3. In the main race, which was 135km long, Gary Shiels and Kenny Sullivan came home in the main bunch, with Gary taking fifth in the A2 category.

The IVCA League, where Cuchulainn riders have been so dominant over the years, continued on Sunday. However such is their reputation that they are heavily marked and despite being active from the drop of the flag any green and red jersey was very heavily marked, not allowing the Dundalk men to feature amongst the results.

Cuchulainn well represented in Spring Sixty Six Sportive

Cuchulainn Ladies who took part in the Camlough Sportive from left: Fiona Rogers, Debbie Lundy, Annette Dolan

Sunday last saw one of the first “good” days of the year for cycling. It wasn’t quite shorts and t-shirt weather but only one pair of gloves were required and no protective overshoes.

The good weather meant that there was a great turn out, with well over 150 riders signing on for the Spring Sixty Six Sportive. Starting from Camlough, riders completed a 60km course, which took in many of the roads that the professional cyclists of the Giro D’Italia will cover in May. Most impressive was that nearly one third of the peloton was comprised of green, white and red jerseys from the men and women of Cuchulainn Cycling Club.

Such was the appetite of many of these Dundalk cyclists, that over 25 of them met in Dundalk, cycled to Camlough, did the 60km event and cycled home again, giving a 100km plus day for them.

On the racing front, the club’s cyclists were active all round the country. On Saturday Alan Bingham posted his first result of the season taking 8th place in the A4 race in Carryduff. In the main race Bryan McCrystal was fourth. On the same day Alan Grey, Val Gargan and Michael Barry travelled to Clonard in Meath to race.

On Sunday the racing action moved to Newbridge, where racing was held on a tough 17km course that featured two significant climbs. Richard Murphy and Karl Dolan had solid days in the massive A3 race, which had a field of 150 riders. In the main event, covering six laps of the course, Cuchulainn had five riders sign on. Michael Barry was unlucky to firstly crash and then puncture after re-joining the bunch. Liam Dolan had a good race to come home in the second break of the day to take 11th place in the 90 man race and first A2.