Lets start with the youths this week as the Club hosted the Scott Orwell One Day Stage Race:
92 racers from under 10s to under 16s, boys and girls descended on a sunny, wind free Corkagh Park on Saturday the 12th of May for the Scott Orwell Wheelers Youth One Day Stage Race.
The event consisted of 3 stages – 1. A Time Trial with distances varying according to age, 2. a Scratch Race and finally 3. an Elimination Race.
The event has grown from year to year and in 2018 there were enough participants to run separate boys and girls races in the under 12, 14s and under 16s.
There was a fantastic race village atmosphere in Corkagh Park, each club had set up bases inside the track, there was a PA set up on the finish so that commentary could be given live as riders went past and as always with any Scott-Orwell event there were snacks!
Well done to all who participated and a special word of thanks to the organisers and everyone who helped on the day! Full results are available on the club forum - https://www.orwellwheelers.org/forum/youth/6770-scott-orwell-youths-one-day-stage-race#26470
The overall Scott-Orwell Wheeler Results:
Under 10
6th. Odhran Reilly
Under 12 Girls
7th. Aine Reilly
Under 12 Boys
1st Oisin May
9th Ryan Fox
14th Luca Holmes
16th Killian O'Brien
Under 14 Girls
2nd Annie Roche
3rd Katie Reilly
Under 14 Boys
6th Ruairi Byrne
15th Christopher Marshal
Under 16 Boys
10th Connor Murphy
11th Ronan O’Connor
14th Andrew Ryan
Open Racing - The Shay Eliot:
One of the most prestigious races on the calendar; the Shay Elliot memorial took place on Sunday the 13th of May. Run by Bray Wheelers, the race was in its 61st edition and attracted most of the top cyclists on the domestic scene. There was a large Scott Orwell contingent present in both the A1 / A2 race and the Ken Duff memorial A3 race. Among others, most of the Orwell Rás team signed on for their last major test before next week.
The race was on a gruelling 157km route through Wicklow; ascending over 1600 metres and including the famous climb from Glenmalure to the Shay Elliot memorial; a tough three kilometre ascent averaging eight percent.
The race kicked off with a neutralised section until it hit the N11. Paul Forristal got in an early breakaway in a small group but they never amassed more than forty five seconds of a lead and they were soon reeled in. Manuel Fontan Garcia was unlucky to get caught up in a crash soon after which prematurely ended his race.
The race then began a series of three laps of a circuit near Avoca. The Scott Orwell riders were very active towards the front of the race, trying to establish a breakaway. Freddie Stevens and Bryan Geary managed to get ahead of the peleton in a breakaway containing many of the main contenders. After completing the three laps, the race continued on to the major climb of the day. Here, the breakaway group split again and the Viner Caremark duo of McLaughlin and Cigala stayed ahead from there to the finish. Stevens and Geary maintained their lead on the peleton and finished strongly. They had the best Orwell results from the race, finishing in 12th and 16th positions respectively.
Ken Duff Memorial (A3 Race of the Shay Elliot). A special report from our “on the bike reporter”, Michael Hanley here: The Ken Duff Memorial 2018
Dunsany GP
Unfortunately not much information on this race except that Shane Toman took 6th place in the A3 race and was in the money! Conor Dowler was up in the front bunch when he hit a pothole and punctured putting an end to his challenge.
Club League R6 - Corkagh Park
The chasers failed to make the catch in the Limit race, with strong newcomer Mark Ryan helping to pull a well-working lead group around the track. Special mention to U14 Ruari Byrne in the points, along with U16s Ronan O'Connor and Conor Murphy.
1 Mark Ryan (L1)
2 Michael Monahan (L1)
3 Warren O'Neill (L1)
4 Ruari Byrne (L1)
5 Ronan O'Connor (SL3)
6 Conor Murphy (SL3)
Women
1 Ciara Kinch
2 Yvonne Doran
The Semi Scratch group were given a quality handicap but the Scratch group set off like men posessed with Dick O'Brien trying to bridge the gap immediately - possibly inspired by his hommage to the Giro and his subtle pink attire! Neal Hudson was the favourite coming into the final laps with a hard-earned gap, but Paul Forristal powered past to take the chequered flag with Valdis managing second on a borrowed bike!
1 Paul Forristal (S)
2 Valdis Andersons (S)
3 Neal Hudson (S)
4 Brian McNally (S)
5 Bryan Geary (S)
6 Colm O'Neill (SS)
IVCA League: R8 The Green Sheds
Another sunny day for the IVCA League – that’s 3 in a row for me if you discount the fog at the start of the Curragh raceJ Back to normal scheduling this week and the Green Sheds circuit and another great turn out.
Race 1 fielded 64 riders and amongst them were Eamonn Finn, Eddie Lynch and Terry Ferris representing Scott Orwell Wheelers.
Eddie was going for the double whammy after competing the day before on the same course in the A3 race of the Dunsany GP. Unfortunately Eddie hit the tarmac on lap 2 and although he tried to continue he pulled up on the third lap and called it a weekend!
The race came down to a sprint finish as so many do on the Green Sheds. The field split into two groups on the run in with the win going to a very strong Sean Curtis of Sundrive showing his track power. The Scott Orwell racers came in in the second group just behind and just out of the points.
Race 2 featured the biggest number of Scott Orwell Wheelers including Ciara Ni Fhlathartaigh on her maiden race in the IVCA. Joining her in the line up was Orla Hendron, Ciara Kinch, Yvonne Doran, John Lannigan and Damian Long.
A pacy affair with no attacks sticking and an average speed of 38kph, none of the Scott-Orwell managed to get up in the sprint with the win going to Pat Halpin of McNally Swords.
Race 3 saw the inform Romano Morelli line up along side Patrick Malone, Barry Redmond, William Parnell, Louise Keane and Terry Ryan flying the Scott Orwell flag. Terry Ryan was looking to make up for the disappointment of missing the racing the previous Sunday when he suffered a last minute mechanical and had to pull out of the race. Terry looked dangerous throughout the 4.5 laps, never too far off the front and ready for the probable sprint finish.
Unfortunately Mark Sheedy and Paul Smith of Swords CC had other ideas and on a course where it is pretty difficult to make a break stick they pulled it off and romped home to first and second – Mark taking the win by over 2 mins in the end!
At one point it looked like Barry Redmond was going to make the break too and get clear for third place - especially when a taxi got between Barry and the chasing group - but in the end Barry was reeled in and it came down to a mass sprint. Romano Morelli showed great positioning and power as he surged ahead of Mick Scully of Smart Lamp to take third on the line. Also in the points was Patrick Malone who finished in 8th place. That’s points two weeks out of two for both Romano and Patrick! Well done guys.
Ps. From the sprint finish photo we now know where Caleb Ewan learnt his sprinting technique!
Mountain Biking:
This weekend saw the British National Mountain Bike Series hit Glentress in Scotland. Caoimhe May and Stephanie Roche were in action representing Scott Orwell. We are expecting a report from Stephanie but for now we can reveal that Caoimhe was 5th in her race and Stephanie 8th in the Open Women's race!
