The second round of the National Series was the Des Hanlon Memorial in Carlow. Dry and warm, with very little wind, that didn't mean it was wasy, with hills right from the start making the racing hard.

In the A3 race, first-year Junior Connor Fennell got a taste of some seriously hard racing and was far from the first to be dropped on a hard 100km circuit.

In the women's race, over the same course, a strong group stayed together at the front despite strong and repeated attacks, particularly from eventual winner Aoife O'Brien. Yvonne Doran made the break and stayed with the leaders throughout, finishing 11th in the gallop to the line.

The A1/A2/Junior race had three Orwell riders. It was raced hard from the start, with riders out the back on every climb, fighting to get back through the cavalcade before the elastic eventually snapped. Juniors David Harrington (first year) and Joe-Nathan Matar (second year) were safely in the bunch until the half way mark, when there were in a group of half a dozen who got gapped on a climb. They fought gamely to get back on and lasted another 10km or so before eventually the distance and relentless page took its toll. First year junior Killian O'Brien was active near the front of the race throughout. mixing it with the big boys.

Unfortunately a lapse of concentration meant that he was badly positioned coming into the vital last climb and had to ride hard to get past most of the splits that appeared as the pressure was piled on from the front. With five riders already up the road, he got to the leading bunch but was unable to join the attacks the followed. He finished in the middle of that bunch in 15th overall and third Junior. Combined with his 8th overall last week it places him in first place in the junior category.