Tour of Louth & News Round Up

Recently Dundalk's streets came alive with over 1,500 runners as they tackled the 10km and half marathons in the excellent Dundalk Talk-To-Me Phones Half Marathon Race. Now on Sunday June 5th it is the turn of every bicycle owner in the county to take to the county's roads for the annual Tour of Louth promoted by Cuchulainn Cycling Club. Last year this event was voted as Ireland's best cycling tour by the members of Cycling Ireland and has been completely rebranded for 2011 to include events for children, through to beginners and those looking for a bit more of a challenge.
 
Four separate events all kick off from JJB Fitness starting at 10am (sign on opens at 9am). The first event is a Family Fun Cycle of 10km in length, aimed for children as a chance to cycle safely on open roads as part of a large group. Another event is a 50km leisure cycle aimed at beginners. The main event is the 100km route which tackles the Cooley Mountains, however this year participants can opt for a slower 100km Tour or the faster 100km Sportive where riders receive a gold, silver or bronze medal based on their finishing times (all the participants in the Tour receive a bronze medal). The route heads towards Dunleer and Ardee before heading back towards the Cooley mountains, taking in the challenging Jenkinstown Climb. A foodstop is provided on the 100km routes and refreshments are served at JJB afterwards. An early board entry is available online at www.touroflouth.com until May 29th of only €20.
 
Meanwhile on Thursday last the latest round of the FPM Accountants Summer Cycling League was held out to Greenore and back. 56 riders signed on and were spread amongst 5 groups. The first group contained Martin McCabe, & the two Nearys Brendan & Gerard. These 3 riders were considerably stronger than the others & they quickly broke away from the rest of the group on the way out to Greenore.
 
Behind them group 4 were gaining quickly on groups 2 & 3 as riders like Paul Le Blanc and Henry O`Neill pushed the pace. Not long after the turn around groups 2, 3 & 4 all came together & set about chasing down the remnants of group 1. Behind this group scratch were really driving hard thanks to newly upgraded A3 rider Sean Loughran. At the turn around it looked as if scratch would catch the large group in front, however their pace stalled a little on the way home.
 
At the front of the race the 3 break away riders continued to work together. In the sprint Martin McCabe edged out Brendan into second and Gerard took third. Behind them Paul Magee led out the big group, from Kevin Trainer in 5th & Declan Grey in 6th. Suzy Mackin was part of this group & was first lady home. Less than a minute later Karl Dolan begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting led home the scratch group taking the special points awarded to them from Peter Tomany.
 
On Tuesday night round 2 of the Mountain bike league saw Seamus McEvoy starting in group 4 catch & pass all those in front of him to take the win. In second place was Stephen Kelleher who started even further back on the grid in group 5, while mountain biking newcomer Frank Reihill put in a great performance starting in group 2 & holding off some of the fast charges behind him for third spot. Sandra O`Hagan was the first lady on the night. The league had 14 riders sign on, split into 6 groups & continues each Tuesday for the next 4 weeks. The pace on the night was extremely fast with riders going over 55km per hour, which is fast on a smooth tarmac road, but on a stone/mud track is borderline madness!
 
Open racing was held in Bohermeen on Sunday & in the B race Alan Gray took his best result ever by placing 6th. This was Alan's first season racing as an A2 category rider & he showed his riding poweress when he made his way into the main break of the day along with eventual winner, Kilcullen's Sean Bracken. As the break started to establish itself, club mate's Myles McCorry & Aidan Cunningham thwarted any attempts by the main field to catch back up to it. Meanwhile Sean Loghran was making his competitive debut in the A3 race & had no problem holding his own in his first outing at this level.
 
This Sunday sees the 8 day international An Post Rás start in the County Meath town of Dunboyne, with stage 1 finishing in Portuma. Portuma will have a hard job trying to top the welcoming Dundalk gave the field on the first stage last May. The race covers well over 1,000km before finishing in Skerries on Sunday May 29th. As always a very competitive field has been assembled with strong teams from new Zealand, Italy, France and the US all participating. While Cuchulainn has no current riders taking part this year, 2 former members will be riding as part of the Stamullen Meath. Derek Finnegan, originally from Carickmacross & now based in Liverpool will be undertaking the race for the first time. Also Cavan's Tony Reilly a club rider in the early 90s & now living in California will be attempting his 4th Rás.