Colm Quinn in dominant form earns Leinster call up

Colm Quinn pulled off a big win on Saturday last (August 20th) when he was first home in the 40km Beachmount Cup hosted by Navan Road Club. The race was a handicapped affair & Colin, being a senior A rider, started in the last bunch. The race was 4 laps of a 10km circuit & by half way through the 2nd lap all 3 bunches had come together. A group of 10 riders got away & quickly established a lead, the pace been driven by Belgain based An Post professional rider Philip Lavery. Colin missed this break, but jumped out of the main bunch & put in a superb performance to ride across to them. Then on the final lap with only a few km to go Colin toke advantage of a stall in the pace & jumped away to take a superb solo win. Colin's form has earned him a call up to the Leinster Cycling Team to compete in a series of English races early in September. This will not be Colin's first time wearing the blue of Leinster, having competed in the Halfords City Center racing series last year in both Belfast & Dublin.
 
Meanwhile on the same day the club promoted the Cooley Thriller Mountain Bike Race.  A fantastic field of over 240 competitors turned up on the day, attempting either the short course of 21k or the full 52k route, which took riders on a complete traverse of the Cooley Mountains, taking in some of the Táin Trail and forest tracks to some roller coaster natural single trails once navigated by the bold Cuchulainn himself. Once again it was the irrepressible Irish 3 time Olympian Robin Seymour who defended his title in style to take the top spot on the podium in a time of 2:43:10 followed by Roger Aiken 2:47:10 and local hero Ray O’Shaughnessy taking the third spot in 2:51:17. In the Super Vet category it was a family affair with Johnny & Declan McCabe coming 1st & 2nd respectively.
 
On Sunday 21st the club's touring riders rolled back into Dundalk after their 500km, 4 day trip around Scotland. Having ridden back from the ferry in Belfast there was a lot of tired, but extremely proud cyclists. This was the first time that many of the cyclists, such as Michelle Dolan, had completed such a challenging task & all distinguished themselves with honours. A special thanks has to go to organisers Kevin Hammil & Padraig Kelly for planning such a fantastic trip, were they even organised good weather in Scotland! Rumours of a trip to the French Alps next year have already begun to circulate....watch this space!
 
On Thursday night the Club League was replaced with the Louth Road Race Championships. 40 riders signed on for the 35km race, which was dominated by Colm Quinn. Colm jumped away from the group after 5km & rode the 30km on his own to take the win by 2minutes, ahead of Stamullen's Gary Horman who led the bunch home, winning this sprint from Alan Bingham. The return of the county championships was a great success & for many it was their first mast start race, as opposed to the usual handicapping system used in the league.
 
The Louth Championships continue this coming Thursday, September 1st with the Hill Climb Championships. This event as part of the FPM Summer Cycling League will decide the winner with only 2 points separating Colm Quinn from league leader Gerry McCabe. Both of these riders would be amongst the favourites for the win along with top class mountain biker Ray O`Shaughnessey. On the ladies side Celine McPhilips will be chasing her 3rd consecutive Hill Climb title, the main challenger here would be Eve McCrystal. All details can be found at the club website www.dundalkcycling.com