The Stephen Roche GP treated onlookers to some spectacular entertainment last night, with family-friendly novice races, a set of youth races, and the headline event being shaped by several moves before James Davenport (SDCC) jumped well clear to take a superb win, all in the company of the man himself, Stephen Roche.

After catching up with the women's incredible haul of medals, it's time to turn our attention to the feats of the (mostly) men, with Neal Hudson getting on the A2 podium in the Wexford 2 Day, then grabbing gold in the Leinster Hill Climb. Conor Murnane brought home bronze for the Junior cat in that event, while back in Wexford Stephen Barry put in a great hill climb to take 4th in the A4 event. There was also a haul of medals from the track league, thanks to Fionn Sheridan, Stephen McNally, David Swift, Uisneach Sheridan - and also Naoise Sheridan (who obviously doesn't belong in the men's category, but all the medals look well together).

With the Marmotte recently passed, and L'Étape just gone by, we've dug this one out of the archives - Stephen McNally's diary of an epic week of cycling in the French alps with Stephen Surdival and Dave McLoughlin which culminated in a very successful assault by the Stephens on the 2007 edition of the fabled Marmotte sportive, rated by many as the toughest of them all. Read on to admire and be inspired…

Last week's club action saw two bunch sprints taken with small gaps by classy winners Bryan Geary and Owen O'Flaherty. Read all about it!

After taking us through the Marmotte, we've dug out another of Stephen McNally's narratives. With planning underway for a 2015 Raid Pyrénéen, this piece will make you want to head along if you don't already!

With talk turning to the Marmotte 2015, it's time to start publishing Garret Connolly's opus detailing the 2014 edition. 16 Orwell members tackled it, which is coincidentally nearly the number of pages in Garret's piece. We've published the first part below!

We have two set of thanks addressed to club members, from Simpson's Hospital following the Joe Daly Memorial Cycle Rally, and Jen Sheridan after the International Track GP.

The races came thick and fast over the weekend, with Kilmessan hosting two days of events for Ciara Kinch and Orla Hendron to take envelopes home from, and the Ballinrobe 2 Day taking place out west, with Pat O'Brien, Neal Hudson, Ronan Grimes and Aideen Keenan all putting in strong performances, and Keenan winning the women's prize there. This all followed the club TTT, won by a team featuring Colum Bradley, Daniel McElroy, and Sean and Conor Murnane.