Youths: Leinster TT Championships
The youths travelled to Mullingar on Saturday for the Leinster Youths TT Championship. Ryan Fox brought home the result of the day and can now proudly call himself the Leinster Under 12’s Champion!
Under 12 Boys:
1. Ryan Fox, Scott Orwell Wheelers, 15.50
4. Luca Holmes, Scott Orwell Wheelers, 17.17
Under 14 Boys:
4. Ruraí Byrne, Scott Orwell Wheelers, 21.54
Under 14 Girls:
2. Annie Roche, Scott Orwell Wheelers, 23.31
3. Katie Reilly, Scott Orwell Wheelers, 24.04
Under 16 Boys:
4. Ronan O'Connor, Scott Orwell Wheelers, 25.29
5. Connor Murphy, Scott Orwell Wheelers, 25.50
7. Dylan Baker, Scott Orwell Wheelers, 27.26
Photos thanks to Terry Reilly - Leinster Youths TT
Emyvale GP A4 – thanks to Jonathon Coffey
A race to mark in the calendar next year; the Emyvale gp took place on Sunday the 20th of May. Superbly Run by Emyvale cycling club, the race featured A1, A2, A3, Juniors Ladies, Masters and A4 riders and ran like clock work .
Unlike previous races there was a smaller A4 Orwell contingent made up of Eric Davis, John wade and Jonathan Coffey. The race route was an undulating 68km circuit with a total elevation gain of 600 meters and a race average of 37km/hr. The race kicked off with a neutralised climb when we hit the top the lead car tooted the horn and the race was off . All Orwell’s sat tight sheltered from a strong head wind waiting for the prime time to make our appearances. Eric was seen laying down some serious hurt on the bunch on the main climb.
Coming into the last 10km JC was positioned well at the front of the bunch with JW and ED closely following behind unfortunately our race was disrupted by a crash in the last 300 meters. Such is A4 bike racing. Till next time!.
Well done everyone who participated and big thanks to Emyvale Cycling club see you next year!
Emyvale Womens race:
The Womens race was also round 3 of the Intermediate National Points League. Having won the leaders jersey at the Des Hanlon but lost it to Jenifer Bates in Deenside a determined Caoimhe May headed north with Orla Hendron on a mission to win it back. Traveling with them as team support was Mihai Sebastian Paveliu and his father – thanks to the guys for giving up their Sunday to help.
A strong field lined out for the womens race. Caoimhe O’Brien, another top class youth from Lakeside Wheelers, was among them possibly the main threat on the day. Word from Una May is that Orla Hendron was a great support to Caoimhe throughout the race and really helped with race skills and tactics. In the end the race came down to a sprint finish and it was Scott Orwell’s Caoimhe who had kept enough in the legs to take the win.
Emyvale Youths Race
In the youths races Annie Roche took the long road north but was rewarded with a great first place in the under 14 girls race! Congratulations Annie!
Hilltown GP
Very little information on this race unfortunately but we do know that Barry Greene of Scott Orwell was involved in the sprint finish of the A4 race and came away with points for 7th place. Having cycled around that part of the country in the past I can definitely guess that it was a tough and leg sapping race!
IVCA League
The IVCA League escaped The Green Sheds circuit this Sunday and headed to the lumpy Kentstown route.
In Race 1 Scott Orwell Wheelers were represented by Diarmuid Collins, Terry Ferris, Eamon Finn and Eddie Lynch. Unfortunately no results to report this week.
Race 2 was a blistering affair with racers being shelled right from the start! The race was won with an average speed of over 38kpm but the first 10km was at a whopping 40kph. In this race David Tansey lined up alongside Ciara Ni Fhlathartaigh representing Scott Orwell Wheelers.
Race 3 was the only race with a result for the club this week. As a Chase Pursuit the purple group were set off first with the blue chasing. The catch was never made! The purple group worked very well together and Terry Ryan took the sprint for a great win. Chasing hard in the blue group had been Romano Morelli, Patrick Malone and Barry Redmond.
Club League Thursday 17th May
The hardest part of this round of the Club League might well have been making it to the start! The Rolling Stones in Croke Park and a combination of crashes on the M50 left many wishing they had left the cars at home and cycled to the start instead. Thanks to Brian Mc for the write up below -
This was the first real chance for someone to beat Paul Forristal. First he suffers two punctures on the ride out, but his fellow Scratch men were kind enough to wait for him, and then Eddy sets a 12min handicap to the front. Still, he continues a remarkable winning streak.
Hard luck to the fallers on the first corner of the Scratch group, and well done to Robbie Dolan and Declan Keating for making the most of the handicap and getting in the points. It was a perfect handicap in the end, with final catch being made on the slopes of Dorey's herself.
1 Paul Forristal (S)
2 Philippe Bourdarias (S)
3 Barry McMahon (S)
4 Robbie Dolan (SL)
5 Eoin Byrne (S)
6 Declan Keating (L)
An Rás Tailteann 2018
There will be a full report after the Rás but for now just to say that after 2 stages the Scott Orwell Team are all still in the race and spirits are high
The full team is:
Neal Hudson
Jamie Busher
Eoin Ahern
Bernard English
Manuel Fontan Garcia
Team Manager(DS): Ken O'Neill
Mechanic: Killian Doyle
Soigneur: Ronan Quigley
Masseuse: John Walsh
Bernard English is best of the team on 83rd overall but in the A2 competition he is 3rd and on the same time as the 2nd placed rider. So lots to ride for this week.
For a taste of what it is like this is Neal Hudsons post to the club forum before stage 2 this morning:
It was a fast start yesterday, as expected, with a Cat3 climb coming after 10km that was sprinted up and then lined out after. Hammer was put down at the front and the first split in the bunch made.
The first hour remained fast, no break could get away with the consistent pace, didn't settle down at all. Opening day nerves, jostling for position, mostly wind coming from the front, a litany of road furniture going through towns and traffic calming measures entering and exiting them meant today was more mentally fatiguing than physical. The wind was from the left in parts which meant on some main road sections we were all over in the hard shoulder on the right hand side of the road, only snaking out around parked cars which sometimes weren't called at all, queue some shouting and near misses, luckily I didn't see or hear any incidents with them.
A group got away about midway through the stage, chatting to Conor Murnane who didn't think there were any county riders in it. It was nearly brought back but the injection of pace was probably as much about the sprint for the county rider jersey as anything else.
Home safe and sound in the peloton, with Bernard who's joint 1st on the A2 classification. Eoin and Manuel caught behind a split in a group a few minutes back, and Jamie a hard solo ride for the day, tough going.
Raining all night and this morning here in Athlone, we were bound to get one bad day weather wise and today looks to be it. Sure look its the same for everyone.
We have the added motivation of passing through Bernard's home town of Oola today, helps having some local knowledge of the roads and climbs around there
