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.

Cuchulainn Cycling Club have huge turnout at Newry race

Alan Grey (far right) taking sixth place in the John Haldane Memorial Cycle Race

Cuchulainn Cycling Club had a huge turn out at Newry Wheeler’s John Haldane Memorial promoted on Sunday last. The race consisted of a 9 mile lap along the dual carriageway out to Warrenpoint and back and was run off in atrocious conditions, cold, wet and very windy.

In the main race, covering 54 miles, six Cuchulainn men were on the start line. Alan Grey, who had taken a prize the day before when racing in Summerhill, had a great day making it into the chase group and coming home in sixth position. Gary Shiels, Sean Loughran and Nial Clarke were very active throughout the race, while Colm Quinn was unlucky to puncture at the half way mark.

In the women’s race Cuchulainn had four women brave the conditions, Annette Dolan, Fiona Rogers, while Debbie Lundy and Rosemary Gibson were competing in their first ever race. Fiona had an outstanding race to come home in fifth, while Annette was riding well in the bunch all day, but was caught behind an accident some 5km from the finish.

In the masters race Jimmy Flynn was unable to defend his win of a year ago, coming home in eighth position. In the other support races Declan McCabe, Karl Dolan, Thomas McCabe, Gary Morten, Alan Bingham and Barry Douglas all finished safely in the main bunch.

The day before, Alan Grey, Michael Barry and Liam Dolan had competed in the main race in Summerhill, held over 55miles. Again Alan was on form taking second in the A2 prize.