Winning Louth Team & Ladies Louth Road Race Championships

Over the Bank Holiday weekend Cuchulainn Cycling Club ran the Tain Team Tour for the second year. Once again the event was based on a team classification, as opposed to an individual classification & like last year was an overwhelming success. County teams, the Ulster Women's Team & a Polish Squad all lined up on Friday night to start proceedings with a team time trial. This time trial was a nod to days gone by when all wind cheating aero equipment, that is now ubiquitous in races against the clock, were banned. The quickest team on the night were the home boys of Louth, a team comprised of Ray O`Shaughnessey, Myles McCorry, Peter Tomany & Gerry McCabe. As well as winning the stage they also picked up a time bonus along the way gaining the maximum points available. County Wexford were 2nd quickest & after stage 1 were only 2 points adrift of Louth, with Poland in 3rd.
 
Saturday's stage 2 took the riders on a 45mile route going through both Carrickmacross & Ardee. The Polish team had a very successful day having Oriol Carbo win the stage outright & others picking up primes along the way. County Wexford also did well placing a number of men in the stage end, as well as securing prime points along the way. Louth did not fair overly well during the stage & fell from 1st to 3rd place, with the Polish Team now leading Wexford by only 2 points, with Louth a further 5 adrift.
 
The final stage was to be an epic, which finished atop of the mast. This climb is by far one of the toughest in the country, made no easier by the poor road surface. From the gun the Louth Team road like men on a mission & put 3 men, Ray O`Shaughnessey, Gerry McCabe & Myles McCrotty into an early break. The 3 lads dominated the intermediate primes soaking up maximum points. Then on the final climb excellent team work allowed O`Shaughnessy to escape & take a superb solo victory. Next home was one of the Dublin riders, followed by Louth's Gerry McCabe. The tour encorporated the Ryan Neary Memorial & the impressive memorial trophy was presented to the winning team.
 
When the dust had settled & all the points added up the Louth team had taken a huge win, having lead frogged both the Wexford & Polish team, whom hung on for 3rd & 4th respectively. A fine team effort to take the win & the club would like to give a big thank you to all those who helped out over the weekend along with the Gardaí.
 
This Wednesday night will see the Louth Ladies Road Race Championships. The race will start from Felda gym, sign on opens at 6pm.
 
In the Beginners & Ladies league on Wednesday night it was a 7.5km time trial. Fastest on the night was Michael Stokes, who beat John Sharkey by a full 6seconds! In 3rd spot was Chris Rodgers only another 5seconds back, in fact less than 20seconds separated the first 6 riders home.
 
Also preparation for the club's trip to Scotland is starting to ramp up. This 4 day tour goes ahead in late August & a few places still are available. Details can be found on www.dundalkcycling.com & a meeting will be held soon to discuss the logistics, routes, etc.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"143","attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter size-medium wp-image-322","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"300","height":"200","alt":""}}]]