Club

Reports from the Orwell League, and before that, the Inter-club League.

Cesar Lopes took a win for Orwell in the first round of the Inter Club League, while Declan Malone and David Harrington got results in this weekend's open races.

Entries are now open for the Inter Club which will be run weekly from April 12 until August 17. Get your weekly fix of racing against five other local clubs.

Orwell's Club League moved to Corkagh Park for the past three weeks, where some high octane racing blew off the winter cobwebs. While some of the club's seasoned racers acquitted themselves well, it was a number of up and coming youth riders who stole the limelight.

After last week's prologue, the bunches got into some fast and furious crit racing this week, with separate nights for the Limit and Scratch groups. John Blennerhassett emerged triumphant from the winning break on Wednesday, while Valdis Andersons once again displayed his dominance on Thursday.

The 2016 club league of Scott-Orwell Wheelers kicked off on Thursday with the Pine forest prologue TT. This was on the same course as has been used for the past three years, and has proven a popular starting point. Valdis Andersons reports back…

Registration for the 2016 Orwell League will close at the end of February, so make sure you get your entries in before then. To whet your appetite for a bit of racing, we're finally publishing a round-up on last year's league, as well a report on the last round, won by Stephen Barry, with Colin Caesar hot on his heels.

The TTT round of the league went down to the wire this year, with only six seconds separating the top two teams after the handicaps were applied, while the hill climb championships were even tighter, Fionn Sheridan winning by less than a second from Brian McArdle.

We'll take advantage of a quiet Friday afternoon to do some catching up on the club league, going back to Conor Murnane's sprint to victory at the club champs in Mondello, and Damien Long's tactical masterstroke of a win on the Green Sheds.

Previous holder of the 25TT title, Tom Blennerhassett retook it in imperious style in R15 of the club league, while Ann Horan blazed to the women's title by nearly a minute over her nearest rival. R16 saw the lowest turnout yet for a round, with Eoin Byrne emerging triumphant in horrendous conditions.

Eric Downey showed that his form hasn't dipped much since his 2013 overall league win, while Valdis Andersons got the victory that has eluded him since he was upgraded to Scratch that same season after running riot in Corkagh Park.