Ed Lennox and Celine McPhilips win Leagues

As we reach the peak of the so called summer the club saw 2 of it's leagues wrapped up in the past week. First up the ladies league finished with a 7km time trial on Tuesday last. Eve McCrystal, fresh of a second place in Drogheda's Brendan Campbell Memorial Road race, won the final round, ahead of Celine McPhilips and Annette Dawe. Celine's second place made sure she maintained her dominant grip on the league and was a clear winner, ahead of underage rider Lisa Neary in second. Given that Lisa is such a newcomer to the sport this was an outstanding achievement to finish so high up the table against older and more experienced competitors. Annette Dawe took 3rd position overall with a strong charge in the final few rounds. Overall the league has been a great success in it's first year as a women's only race. Over 25 different riders signed on throughout the campaign, which was run off in some terrible weather. Each and every Tuesday as 7:30 rolled around the skies opened up, but Dundalk's ladies showed that they are both stylish and pretty on the outside they are also hard as nails on the inside.

While the ladies raced on the smooth tarmac, on the single track of Bellurgan Park and Ravensdale mountains the Mountain Bike League came to its conclusion. The winner of the final round was Meave Baxter, a relative newcomer to the league having only got involved half way through the season. In second position was Aarann McCann, whom also set the fastest lap of the night. The minor placings saw a shuffle in the overall table and when the rounds had been added up Ed Lenox Cunningham was crowned the winner, ahead of Gary Morton and Terry McEneaney. It was close at the top with only 15 points separating the first 3. The secret to Ed's success was consistency and a bit of luck, having achieved the rare feat in off road cycling of not having suffered any mechanical mishaps or even a crash. Ed was indeed mister consistent, scoring points in 11 of the 12 rounds. While he had a number of wins early on in the league, when not on the podium he was still collecting points each and every week. Gary Morton as a newcomer to the off road discipline should be commended for his excellent 2nd place overall. In total the league saw 42 different riders take part over the 12 weeks.

On Saturday 18th 1August the club will be hosting the All Ireland Junior and Vets time trial Championships, while on the 19th it will host the All Ireland Championships on the road for Juniors and A3 riders.