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Volunteer of the Year Martin Gray
On Friday night last Cuchulainn Cycling Club's cyclists left the lyrca at home & put on their finery for their annuall end of year Christmas Awards night, at the function room in Oriel Park. Prizes for the many club competitions and Louth Championships were handed out on the night along with the most prestigious award of the night, Club Volunteer of the Year. The night was kicked off with a minutes silence for the former National Champion & Dundalk cyclist Johnny Mullen.
The winner of the Volunteer of the Year award was none other than the illustrious Martin Grey, one of the club's stalwarts going back as far as the early 90s. Martin, already a vet, came to cycling with a background in life's more relaxed activities, having no athletic career of note. On his first club run he arrived on a rusty old mountain bike & by the time they arrived back in Dundalk, the former heavy smoker, had more than earned the respect of the more experienced cyclists. He continued to go from strength to strength & easily made the jump from club racing to senior open racing. Such was his natural talent on the bike that after only a few short years Martin rode the international Rás in 1993. On one of the toughest stages in that's year's race in the Donegal mountains Martin had a bad accident on a descent of a climb. Hitting a stone wall & going over the handlebars, Martin ended up in a field, staring at a rather large bull. When the bull saw Martin throw his broken bike in the ditch & grab a spare from the Louth Team car, he was glad of his decision now to mess with Martin!
While still a very active racer, Martin is still to be found on every club run, either up the front pushing the pace or at the back helping newcomers to stay in touch with the group. He is also involved in coaching the underage cycling & is always there to give pointers to newcomers. Despite all of this he still found the time to become a national champion again this year, succesfully defending his age group title in the IVCA National Road Race Championships. Martin was presented his award from last year's winner, his son Alan Grey.
On the road scene 2 riders dominated the club & Louth competitions. Colm Quin won the FPM Accountants Summer League, and the Louth Road Race Championships, while Gerry McCabe won the Carrick Cycles New Years Time Trial and the Louth Time Trial. The ladies Louth Time Trial was won by Eve McCrystal. Celine McPhilips was first lady in the league & took 2 Louth Championships winning both the road race and mountain biking champs. Michael Stokes took first in the beginners league. The Shiels Engineering Mountain Biking League went to John Sharkey, while Aidan McDonald was the winner in the Louth Mountain Bike Championship. The Louth Hill Climbs went to Breda Dawe & Raymond O`Shaughnessy. Photos from the night can be viewed on the club's Facebook page
Next up for the club is this Saturday's Cyclo Cross race being held in Bellurgan Park. Riders will tackle the off road course & pick their way through the mud. This is the last race on the calendar before January's National Championships. Brothers Gerry & Johnny McCabe will be looking to fine tune their form as they would be expected to pick up gold medals in their respective categories come January.
