Round one of The Bike Station Summer Cycling League kicked off with a relatively short road race of 26km, from the Fane Bridge to the Dunleer Roundabout and back. The flattish course & still evening saw very fast times, with the scratch group averaging a rapid 46.7km an hour for the distance.
Group 3 were the first on the road & used their handicap to the maximum to stay away from the chasers. In the final km, Brian Daly, who rides with Kilkenny's Marble City Wheelers, launched an attack down the hard shoulder & quickly established a small gap. As the other riders hesitated, no one wanting to waste energy ahead of the sprint, Daly held the gap all the way to the line to take a fine win. The rest of the top five were all Cuchulainn riders, with Donal Quinn in second and Gavin Rafferty in third. Claire Ludlow of Ardee Cycling Club was first lady home in 13th place.James McMorrow of Drogheda Wheelers lead the next group home.
In the 2nd race Edward Carville of Cuchulainn took a comfortable win over Paul McCartney in second and Andrew Flood in third. This week will see the finish in the same place at the Fane Bridge, but a longer circuit as the race goes through Ardee.
In the IVCA league Ray Fedigan took a step back from winning to organising, as he played race director for the 5th round as Cuchulainn were the hosts. In race two Aidan Delaney had a storming performance to come home in third place behind 2 riders from Wexford's Slaney Wheelers.
In the main race David Holland had another strong race finishing with a top 10 coming home 8th, where the winner Nial Delahaye of Dublin, was also the winner of the Carrick Cycles time trial held on New Year's Eve last year.
Photo is courtesy of Adrian Crowley