Round 14 League Round Up

The last round of The Bike Station Cycling League finished at the Long Woman's Grave which mean't a tough final 8km as the road goes uphill from the turn at Davy's Pub all the way to the finish. Early on in Race 1 scratch had closed the gap to Group 5, however in steady of continuing to ride steady to catch group 4 the riders started to attack each other.

Not long before Carlingford Alan Bingham, Gary Gorman and Liam Dolan had managed to break away from the group, then on the long hill out of Carlingford Alan Grey and underage sensation Conor McKeown put in a huge effort to bridge the gap. This group of 5 riders continued to ride hard and before the start of the climb had caught group 1.

 On the early slopes of the climb Bingham set a blistering pace and had whittled the group down to himself, Dolan and Grey. These three continued to the line were Grey took the win ahead of Bingham and Dolan in third. Behind the 3 escapees Paul Dagg led the fragmented bunch home for 4th, with Brian Grogan in 5th.

Meanwhile in race 2 Barry Meehan was the winner having proven too strong for everyone else on the tough drag to the finish. John Lonae was next home pipping Peter Taffe. Padraic Murphy put in a massive performance on the circuit coming home inside the top 10 in one of his first races back since a bad accident. Rosena Lynch was first lady home and for a long time looked like she might take the win, having started in Group 1, but the long finishing straight proved to be her undoing as she was caught and passed in the final meters.

The league has just 4 rounds remaining and with Alan Bingham the only one of the top 3 to score points in the latest round he now sits in pole position. Rosena Lynch is just outside the top 3 and if she continues to ride strongly in her debut season could take the league win outright.