The Scott Orwell Audax Series

Scott Orwell Wheelers will be running 3 Audax Events this year.

March 3rd: The Orwell 200

March 31st: The Midlands 300

May 11th: The National 400

Details will be posted to the club website in advance of each event. Keep an eye out for details.

The Orwell 200 will take place on Sunday the 3rd of March and is the first of 3 Audax events which will be hosted by Scott Orwell Wheelers in 2019. This event is a great starting point for anyone thinking of giving Audaxing a go, the experienced or those starting on the road to PBP qualification.

The route starts and finishes at Joe Daly Cycles; it is a total of 208.03 km and has a total ascent of 957.86m and has a maximum elevation of 202.38 m.

Starting at 7am, the shop will open at 6.30am for registration. There are toilets, bag storage and changing rooms available for participants. Refreshments will be served at registration.

Event Details:

Audax Ireland Website for entry form: Link to Audax Ireland Event Page

Entry Closing date: Friday 22nd February 2019

Venue: Joe Daly Cycles - Dundrum - Dublin 14 - open at 06:30am

Start time: 07:00

Map: Map my Ride map

Strava Map: 200 Route on Strava

Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Registration is now officially closed for the Orwell 200km this Sunday.

For those who got their entry in on time we will see you bright and early on Sunday morning. Joe Daly Cycles will open at 6.30am and the start will be at 7am sharp.

Best of luck to every taking part!

Well done to everyone who completed the Orwell 200 today in what can be described as “testing” conditions!! They had wind, rain and snow all in one day.

First men home were Martin Hayden of Portarlington and Micheal Doorly of Scott Orwell, bang on 8 hours.

Hard man of the day award goes to Andrew Halpin of Naas Cycling Club who passed his house 30km from Dundrum and suffered 2 more hours to the finish of the Orwell 200!!!

18 finishers so far with 8 still plugging away and 30 abandonment at the last count but no shame in not finishing on a day like today!!

Michael Hayden of Scott Orwell finished at 17:39 and it looks like he carried a little extra weight for the last stretch;)



17:50 - the first woman of the day has finished! Aisling Ni Neill of Scott Orwell. Chapeau!!

18:57 - the final tally!
19 finishers,
37 DNF,
42 DNS,
All home safe and sound. Well done to everyone who participated and HUGE thanks to everyone who organised and helped out today on a day which tested mind and body for everyone!

Thank you to my Club colleagues.

I want to record my sincere thanks to all of my Club colleagues who organised the DMK200 Audax 2019

First of all, to arrive at JD's to such an efficient dispatch - in at 06:57 ( I forgot my heart monitor strap and rode 500m up the road from home debating whether I should go home to get it ( a word to the wise.. if you are uncertain about what to do in any given situation, stop cycling) I went home to get it so I was a bit flustered even before the start.


We started off at 07:00. and were quickly into our rhythm. A group of 12, and we all worked together well.

Aside: My wife, Clodagh, always askes me who I met and who I talked with... my response is generally along the lines .. just one of the lads.. Suffice it to say that apart from Mervyn I don't remember having being in a group with any of the others (now that I think of it, there's the French lad .. but I can't remember his name.. but he is sound as well.)

We were moving along at a pace that was in Goldilocks terms " just a bit too warm" for a while , I held on hoping that it would settle down.... which thankfully it did. The only black spot was Leonard not taking my Garmin into the jeep ( just think, I could have had a load of Strava KOMs and have cycled home and avoided all the bad weather).


A few hours and a bit of bad weather later, we arrived in Monasterevin, in the interim we had been greeted and encouraged in our endeavours by marshals in Leixlip and Killbegan. Audax is supposed to be self supported but our Club mates who were marshaling could not do enough for us, they had water, high 5 tabs, fig rolls, bananas and the rest.. but most importantly they stamped the card and signed us through on our journey.

When you are a bit cold, the potential for faffing about increases exponentially. As a result I missed the group leaving Monasterevin. But, with the triumph of hope over experience, I thought that I would catch them up..( note to self , the probability of catching a group is inversely related to the size of the group you are trying to catch. i.e. given that there was at least 8 up the road, I had no chance).

So was cycling home on my lonesome,.... this is where the learnings of earlier in the day came into play. DMK 200 is said not to be challenging from a navigation ( or any other aspect apart ,from weather) perspective , but there are a number of decision points along the way. I usually am a lemming and just follow the leader taking no responsibility for navigation. .. what does a lemming do when it is on its own? So anyway I went through a few junctions relying on instinct but then remembered that if in doubt about something (see heart strap issue earlier) it would be better to stop and have a think. …

Again I was extremely grateful to the organisers … I got out the route card , which, because I didn't have my glasses was going to be difficult to read ..but, loo and behold, the card was
1. laminated - so it hadn't become a soggy illegible mess

2. colour coded and I could see the mistake I'd made and set me back on the right course.

On the remainder of the way back to JDs I was happy enough....apart from the cold and the wet and the sleet.

I have to say that my memory of my arrival into JDs will remain with me as a testament to the Club spirit, when I arrived in the door there was such a warm welcome,

A club member took of my helmet for me , another person took off my gloves, another person wrapped a scarf around my head and finally another clubmate gave me a warm drink and put a cap on my head.

I had planned to cycle home from JDs, but my club mates thought better of it , they put me in a car ( red golf/polo), put my bike on the rack and drove me home. The drivers name was either John or Joe, apologies for forgetting your name... all I remember is that I was so impressed that you would choose to help out with the club after just coming back from your ski holiday.

So this is a very long winded acknowledgement of all those who worked so hard to organise the DMK 200 Audax, I'm eternally grateful for your efforts and proud to be associated you as Club members.

Regards

Ronan Gill

120 Jelly Beans, 10 bananas, 6 L of water, five breakfast rolls, four cable ties, two mechanicals, one lockable strap and 5 happy cyclists looking forward to turning west over the Slieve Blooms, out of the head wind all the way for 97 kms to Mountrath.

The Organisers spin for the Midlands 300 is well underway!

The second in the Orwell Audax series is the Midlands 300 and will take place on Sunday the 31st of March.

Full details are now on the home page of the website for those interested in taking part.

www.orwellwheelers.org/events/audaxes/1240-midlands-300km-audax

A few pictures from the Orwell 200 back on March 3rd - it started out with great expectations.

Focus Puller and Driver on the day was Valerie



Cheers
Leonard

Belated congratulations to everyone who took part in the Midlands 300 Audax at the weekend.

We have 40 riders start and 39 finish which is a fantastic result. We are reliably informed that this would make the Midlands 300 one of (if not THE) biggest 300km Audaxes ever in Ireland.

Despite the headwind all the way from Athlone home word is that riders finished in good spirits and well inside the cut off times.

Chapeau!

The last of the 3 Scott Orwell Audax Events for 2019 will take place this coming Saturday - the 11th of May. This will be the National 400.

For those who have completed a 300 this is a great step up event and an good introduction to night cycling. Navigation is relatively straight forward and it manages 400km but with less than 3000m of climbing.

For details see here - www.orwellwheelers.org/events/audaxes/1259-the-national-400

Great news from Dave Mc:

All riders home on the National 400 2019.

26 finishers from 31 starters.

11 Orwell riders on the finishers list, all of whom achieving the third step on the road to PBP.

Well done folks, great achievement. (photos thanks to Leonard)