Cuchulainn riders take part in charity cycle

Members of the Cuchulainn team who took part in the Lap of Louth on Saturday

On Saturday last Dundalk’s Cuchulainn Cycling Club, under the guidance of Barry Rogers, Francis Dollard and their committee, organised a cycle in aid of the cancer supporting charity On Your Bike.

The cycle was christened the Lap of Louth and took in all the highlights of the “wee” county. Over 100 local cyclists gathered at 8:30am on Saturday morning and started their journey by heading North taking in Carlingford, Omeath and the infamous Davy’s Climb up to the Long Woman’s Grave. The riders then headed out through Faughart and onto Bridge-a-Crinn, where club members Ray Fedigan and Karl Dolan hosted all 100 riders in their bike shop, The Bike Station.

After refuelling on coffee and freshly made scones the riders thanked their gracious hosts and headed for Hackballscross. The 170km route finished up through Ardee, Collon, Drogheda and finally the scenic route home along the coast.

Fresh from her world championship medal winning ride in the USA, Eve McCrystal was back in the Irish colours, racing as part of the Irish team in the 5 day international race, Rás na mBan. Eve went into the race as one of the favourites, despite strong international teams from America and Europe. However bad luck was to befall Eve when she endured a nightmare day on stage three. A puncture, crash and another mechanical fault saw her lose time. A strong ride in the individual time trial and the remaining stages did see her make up some time but not enough to feature amongst the winners.

With the racing all done for the year the next event on the calendar for the club is definitely a leisure event, when on Saturday September 27th the riders will be riding to the outskirts of Belfast for their annual overnight trip. Details can be found on www.dundalkcycling.com

Meanwhile, the AGM for the club’s leisure section will take place tomorrow night (Tuesday) at 8pm in the Jockey’s on Anne Street.

Gorman clinches Summer Cycling League

Gary Gorman takes the win in the final round of the league and with it the league title

Thursday last saw the curtain fall on the 2014 FPM Accountants Summer Cycling League. Over 18 Thursday’s since April 7th the league has been held come rain and shine. Some 130 different riders took part in the campaign and between them logged in excess of 35,000km, just 5,000km shy of travelling from the North to South Pole.

Going into the last race it had boiled down to a two horse race between Trevor Kane and Donore’s Gary Gorman, with just three points separating them. With family holidays, Kane’s chance of the win was out of his hands. The last round was the shortest of the campaign – a race of only 30km. The appetite for racing was such that even at this late stage some 50 riders signed on.

With Gorman starting in the sixth and final group the pressure was on him to catch all those in front to finish in the points and secure the necessary four points to take the lead. As always the pace was fast from the gun and with Gorman, along with Aidan Cunningham, Tomas McCabe and a few riders from Ardee Cycling Club driving the pace the group held an average speed of 43.5kph.

By the half way point group six had only caught one of the groups in front, which meant Gorman would not finish in the scoring positions and the league would go to Kane. The ride home from Dunleer, where the time would have to be made up, was made harder by the fact that it was into a strong headwind. However, Gorman and company made a mockery of the blustery conditions and continued to drive the pace. With less than 5km to go only one group remained out front and if they stayed away only the minor places were left, which would not carry enough points for Gorman to take the outright win. With this knowledge in mind Gorman attacked and soloed across to the leading group, rode straight through them to take the win on the night, thereby scoring maximum points and the securing the FPM Accountants Summer Cycling League.

When the dust had settled Kane remained in second postion, with Alan Bingham in third. Ardee’s Richard McMullen – in his first year of racing – finished in fourth and Dundalk’s Mickey Stokes was fifth. Fourteen year old Conor McKeown was the first underage rider. Conor is only cycling 18 months, having been inspired by watching his uncle Eamonn McKeown race the FPM league in 2013. Conor will be hoping to medal in the underage nationals, having already earned a Leinster bronze.

Dundalk’s Eve McCrystal, currently on international duty with Ireland’s Paraolympic team, has been selected as part of the Irish team for September’s Rás na mBan. The five day international bike race is held in and around Ennis, County Clare. Last year Eve competed as part of the Leinster team and this year as part of a stronger Irish team is bound to compete for the overall win.