Western Lakes Racing News
The race season starts this weekend.Details of this weekends westcoastwheelers race in Loughrae is here http://www.westcoastwheelers.com/race its cheaper if you pre-register so worth doing.
The covey wheelers are hosting the 2 day A2, A3 Ras Mhaigh Eo over st Patricks weekend. I know that the event is selling out fast so you should get your entries in fast. A prominent member of the covies is rumored to have said. It would be great to turn up in numbers to this race and throw down the gauntlet to the covies early in the season.
All of our racers have been training hard and it will be great to see everyone out on the road giving it socks over the next few weeks.
Below is a race report from a connacht training race earlier in the year in Bohola. The distance was 86km (broken into 30km race, 5 km race and 30 km race with neutral service in between) and the temperature was just above zero.
All roads lead to Bohola for the final round of the Connacht cycling reliability trials series.
The weather conditions suited a fast open race, once heavy ground frost had cleared; there was a moderate to strong cross wind favouring outbound ride to Carracastle and a cross tail wind home. A total number in the region of 40 riders signed on.
The bulk of the riders were made up of Ballina and Castlebar racers, possibly 30 of the 40 in total.Member of WLCC in attendance were Cathal Usher, John Jennings and Shane Gilligan.The race was broken up into categories with the A3-A4 off first, this was the main bunch with only 6 riders in the A2-A1 bunch.
First race was very much controlled by the dominant clubs with attacks coming from Cathal Usher, Richy Meaney and Shane Gilligan. Once 3 riders managed to get away (2 Ballina and one Castlebar). Some attempts were made to close the gap but they were consistently chased down. The A1-A2 riders came together 4km from the finish line but were unable to bring the gap back.
The second race was a short 5km race with Paddy Clarke and Charlie Prendergast to the fore, with persistent attacks. They pulled a gap on the second of 4 groups of over 50m at the finish. Cathal Usher of western lakes was one of the few riders to hold on to them for some time.
The final race was full distance in from Carracastle, the race started at a phenomenal pace with jump after jump for the first 10-15 km, it steadied up after this but Clarke, Prendergast and a few other eventually pulling away. (Didn’t see the finish as I was out the back in Swinford)!! Cathal Usher was once again in a strong position at the finish.
It is hoped that the return of the international riders of P Marrey, S O Malley,P Hughes and Janis will bolster the club and that everyone will enjoy the early season racing.