Gorman Takes Chequred Flag Again (June 30th 2008)

Gorman does the Double For the second week in a row Gary Gorman was first man home in the FPM Accountants Summer Cycling League. Thursday last, Round 9, was the longest event of the league. The route was Dundalk to Carrickmacross, Ardee and home a distance of over 30 miles. The day had seen plenty of rain however with about 30mins to go before the first group departed the rain finally stopped and the sun came out, however the strong wind continued to blow making the going tough for the three groups. The scratch group, starting some 14minutes behind the leaders, took off from the gun. The group was riding very hard and just as they turned onto the Carrick to Ardee road had caught the middle group. Such was the pace that only 1 or 2 of the middle group riders were able to work with the scratch group, with the evergreen veteran Martin Grey being one of them. Despite the fast pace by the time they reached Ardee the leaders still held a 2 minute advantage over the combined groups and with riders getting tired it was to be touch and go as to whether or not they would be caught. However riders like Alan Gray, who was easily the strongest rider on the night, continued to take long turns on the front of the group and by the Ready Penny Inn the leaders were in scratch's sight. All the group bar one was quickly caught, as Peter Collins had managed to slip off the front. Colm Quinn rode hard to pull Peter back by the bottom of the last climb, where James Flynn launched a well timed attack. With the line quickly approaching it looked like Flynn may have done enough, however as the sprint began to wind up Flynn was reeled in and Gorman used his finishing speed to take the win from Alan Gray and Newry rider Kevin Lynch in third. All agreed that it had been one of the toughest league nights in a long time. The leader board up to round 9 shows defending champion Aidan Martin in the familiar position of first, with 1 point to spare over Alan Bingham. In third place is Newry Wheelers Rider Maurice McKevitt a further point back. With 10 rounds to go it is still anybodies league to win and work commitments mean Bingham will most likely be out of the running. Round 10 is a 0 mile time trial starting on the old Dublin Road at 7:00pm on Thursday. Sunday last saw Cuchullainn CC promote the inaugural Tour of Louth Cyclosportive. This 100km route headed out to Ardee before hading back into Dundalk and up the Jenkinstown Hill climb, continuing on to Omeath and back home via Carlingford. The event was a great success with over 70 riders taking part. The first group home completed the distance in under 3 hours and were awarded with a gold finishers medal. The event catered for all cyclists with the last of the riders completing the distance in around 4 hours and those were presented with a bronze finishers medal.

Cuchulainn Performs well in Autoline Newry 3 Day (June 23rd 2008)

The highlight of the local racing calendar was the Newry Wheelers promoted Autoline Newry 3 Day, which took place last weekend. Cuchulainn CC entered a 6 man team for the event and with riders steadily building form, many were hoping for a good performance. Racing started on Friday night with a 40mile circuit race around the streets of Warrenpoint. This traditional opener is always fast and furious and once again it was the Belfast Veteran Lenny Kirk, who won the opening stage to take the first yellow jersey. Lenny has now won this stage for the last 4 years running and is proving to be unbeatable on the tight corners of the Warrenpoint circuit. All the Cuchullain riders finished safely in the bunch and were active throughout the race. Day 2 started with a 50mile road race on the well knowen Hilltown - Kilcoo circuit. Again the Dundalk riders were very active throughout but failed to figure in the final results. A number of riders escaped during the race and the yellow jersey moved onto the shoulders of Stamullen rider Colm Robinson. The decisive stage of the event is typically the Saturday afternoon time trial. The route is the 4 miles from Warrenpoint into Newry along the dual carriage-way. The stage was won by time trial specialist John Heverin of Lurgan. Gary Gorman pulled out a superb ride to finish in 10th place in the stage and Gerry McCabe also finished in the top 20. After all the riders had finished the course and the overall calculated, Newry rider Kevin Lynch was in second position overall, only 1 second off the lead. Kevin is well known in Dundalk as he is a regular competitor in the FPM Accountants Summer league and also completed as part of the Louth Ràs team in the 2006 season. The final stage was a tough 60mile route through the Mourne mountains. Giving the closeness at the top of the leader board it was all set for an epic battle and the Dundalk riders had agreed to assist Kevin were possible in helping him to make up the 1 second time gap. Early on a group of 8 riders escaped the main bunch. This group built up a lead of over 2 minutes and the yellow jersey had essentially passed to this group. Sensing the danger Newry Wheelers and Cuchullain went to the front and drove the bunch along to pull them back. Strong riding from Dundalk rider's Alan Gray, Colm Quinn, James Flynn and Peter Tomanny mean`t the break was pulled back with less than 5 miles to go. Kevin had decided on the tactic of attacking inside the last mile and trying to hold off the bunch and once again asked the Dundalk men to set a high pace over the last few miles. The Dundalk riders went about their task to great effect and on the home stretch as Gary Gorman pulled aside Kevin made his move. An all out effort to the line result in a 3 second gap over the bunch and handed him the overall win by the narrow margin of 2 seconds. Gary Gorman had just enough left in the legs to take 5th spot. This is a great result for Kevin and he greatly acknowledged the support of the Cuchullain CC riders. In the overall results both Gary Gorman and Gerry McCabe finished inside the top 25 and the club claimed 4th team overall.

A few photos of the weekends action courtesy of Tommy & Marion Lambe of www.cyclingulster.com

Quinn Continues Impressive Run of Form (June 9th 2008)

Colm Quinn continues his impressive run of form by winning the most recent round of the FPM Accountants Summer Cycling League. Round 6 was a short time trial starting at the Bush on the Carlingford road and finishing at the Long Woman's Grave. While not an out and out mountain climb it was definitely a tough route which is a long steady uphill stretch. Quinn set the fastest time of 16:42, 18 seconds ahead of Gerry McCabe. with last week's winner Owen Martin in third spot a further 34 seconds back. The poor weather and tough route saw only 11 riders turn out on the night. a disapointing number given the recent record turn outs. Round 7 is back on the road and will be held on the Ravensdale circuit, starting at 7:00pm from Nail Clarke Oils on the Carlingford road. This course was introduced last year and proved very popular with the riders. It is a circuit that has it all, tough hills, technical descents and fast flat sections. Now that the league is in full swimg this Thursday will see riders move into different groups, which match their improving fitness and should see a more evenly matched league event. Once again on Thursday last Mary Gorman proved yet again why she was club person of the year 2007. Despite the wet conditions Mary stepped up to help out with marshalling duties when a number of scheduled marshals failed to show up. Without her assistance the race would not have gone ahead.

Martin Wins tough round of FPM Cycling League (June 2nd 2008)

It was a Martin first across the line on Thursday last for the FPM Accountants Summer Cycling League, however this time it was Owen Martin and not defending league champion Aidan Martin who finished back in fourth spot. This round of the league went out to Carlingford and up the dreaded climb at Davy`s pub to finish at the top of the long Woman's Grave, undoubtedly the hardest circuit in the league series. Martin's win was very impressive given that just the previous Sunday he had completed the Ironman Lanzarotte race. This race kicks off with a 2.4mile swim, a 112 mile cycle over the island`s mountainous terrain and finishes with a full 26.2 mile marathon. On top of all this the wind on the island is relentless and gusts have been known to blow lighter riders off the road. That Owen managed to completed this epic race in less than 12 hours, catch a flight home and win a bike race on a Thursday night is testament to his strict training regime. Owen's win was forged from the second group, this group had quickly clawed back the 6minute deficit to the first group and also held off the fast moving scratch group. At the bottom of the climb Owen and Alan Bingham attacked and rode away to take 1st and 2nd on the line. The next group was led home by Ray O`Shaugenessy for 3rd place. Once again, despite reducing the time gap, scratch riders failed to feature in the results, despite some strong riding from the group. Surely now some of the riders riding the second group have built sufficient form over the previous rounds to step up to the scratch group.