Louth Road Race Championships and The Bikestations Womens League

After the torrential rain of last week, dry skies awaited the ladies for the first round proper of the Bikestation Women's Cycling League. Over 20 riders signed on and were split into 4 different groups. Group 1 saw a unique pairing in Mairead Caraher and Meave McCabe in that Meave thought Mairead PE in Ballybay secondary school back in her schooling days.. The 2 worked to good effect and were last to be caught by the express train that was Annette Dolan and Fiona Rogers. These 2 started in the last group and quickly shed their accomplices to catch all in front of them. In the sprint for the line Annette took a commanding win ahead of Fiona. Celine McPhilips led the next group home taking 3rd place ahead of Clones cyclist Tracy McConky. Moynalty Cycling Club riders Helen Bennett and Bronagh Gaffney took the next 2 spots. The race was a great success and a number of newcomers, such as Martina Carey and Nicola Jordan enjoyed great debuts. The action continues every Tuesday night for the next 5 weeks.
Meanwhile the FPM Accountants Summer Cycling League is up to round 5, the most recent race being the tough circuit that finishes at the Long Women's Grave. In Race 1 underage rider Loracn Kilkenny took his second win of the league beating Shaun Paul O'Shaughnessy and Thomas McElroy. In race 2 Tómas McCabe took a hard fought win ahead of Alan Bingham and Junior Nathan McGreehan in 3rd. At this stage a top of the leader board is Trevor Kane from race 2. Trevor has a slim 3 points to spare over Mickey Stokes, with mark Duffy a further 2 points back. Things are all very tight with only 10 points separating the first 12 riders. In total 119 riders have scored points at this stage and with 13 events to go it is too early top start putting your money down.
Finally last Thursday the FPM League took a 1 week hiatus for the Louth Road Race Championships. The 52km course saw the riders head out to Carrick, across to Ardee and home. With the An Post Rás starting this Sunday a lot of the club's riders chose to skip the event, however this didn't make the racing any easier. Over 50 riders signed on for the mass start event and as the riders left Carrickmacross a breakaway group emerged with all of Cuchulainn's top junior talent on show with Nathan McGreehan and brothers  Aimhirghin, Cuirithir O`Brannagain present. These 3 along with Tómas McCabe, David Holland, Richard Murphy and Peter Tomany drove the break along to establish a gap over the main bunch, which stretched out to just over a minute by the end. In the sprint for the line Nathan took the win ahead of Tómas in second and David Holland in 3rd.