The races came thick and fast over the weekend, with Kilmessan hosting two days of events for Ciara Kinch and Orla Hendron to take envelopes home from, and the Ballinrobe 2 Day taking place out west, with Pat O'Brien, Neal Hudson, Ronan Grimes and Aideen Keenan all putting in strong performances, and Keenan winning the women's prize there. This all followed the club TTT, won by a team featuring Colum Bradley, Daniel McElroy, and Sean and Conor Murnane.

The team time trial escaped the showers that hit much of Dublin last Thursday night, aiding the teams to blast around the new course. Starting from Blessington, a technical and rolling course on some leg-deadening roads awaited all the riders. With nine teams and Dave Mc's patented per-category handicap system, the playing field was level and the competition was fierce!

The fastest time was set by a team of pure Scratch riders - Brian McArdle, Pat O'Brien, Eric Downey and Fionn Sheridan - but ultimately the foursome placed 3rd. Taking home the gold were a mixed team - two Limit riders in Daniel McElroy and youth rider Sean Murnane, SL Colum Bradley, and SS Junior Conor Murnane. With a time of 48:00, and a handicap of 7:10, the adjusted time of 40:50 was over 20 seconds faster than the 2nd placed trio. Brian McNally, Cormac Bracken and Fionn Griffin had a challenging test to complete the course with only three on the team, but rose admirably to the task, recording the 3rd fastest time (44:56) on the night, rising to 2nd place with a 3:40 handicap applied (41:16).

3rd went to the Scratch men 30 seconds back in 41:46, while 4th was taken by the 2nd fastest team on the night - Arek Pierozynski, David Swift, Gavin Dodd and Liam Rowsome. With a majority of Scratch riders, and great testers at that, they pulled out all the stops to record 43:42, adjusted to 42:07. In 5th spot was another trio overcoming the lack of a fourth rider, but still notching up 46:54. The experienced set of Eddie Lynch, Graham Scanlon and Stephen McNally ended up with 42:39 earning 5th before and after the deduction of 4:15. Taking the last of the points was the mostly Scratch team of Aidan Collins, Diarmuid Collins, Michael Hanley and Tom Blennerhassett, who were 4th fastest around the course, but slipped to 6th when the handicaps were applied across the board, with a final time for them of 42:45.

A special mention must go to the last placed team, whose time does not reflect accurately their abilities after one of their team took a tumble around the back of the lake. Jamal Ahmed and brother Sulayman Ahmed, along with Uisneach Sheridan and aided by Valdis Andersons and Ronan Grimes clocked up a precise hour, which was adjusted to 52:30 - an excellent time for the young riders considering the circumstances. Hopefully they'll be out to better it next year!

Daniel McElroy earned himself an upgrade to SL after his performance, ahead of this week's final championship event. Riders will suffer up Kilmashogue Lane, with a chance for non-league competitors to record a time too - check out the forum for more.

McElroy was back in the saddle for the National Track Champs on Saturday, but we'll cover that in another piece. On the same day, Ciara Kinch rode out to Kilmessan for a warm-up, before jumping in with the men for the Beechmount Cup. She took the 1st unplaced woman prize by finishing in the sprint, a worthy accomplishment after a fast paced race - averaging 44kph over the 50km route.

She finished in the bunch again on Sunday, but given it was a women's event with a break up the road, went home empty-handed. Orla Hendron was rewarded for her efforts alongside Fran Meehan (Aquablue) and Geraldine Gill (Bohermeen), taking silver behind Meehan - who attacked with 5km to go from the three woman move. Hendron was very satisfied with the day's performance in the break, reckoning it was a good indication that her form was increasing in line with her Worlds preparations. You can read more about the women's race at womenscycling.ie.

Throughout the weekend, four of Orwell's best were suffering out west in the Ballinrobe 3 Day. With a high quality field featuring the likes of Damien Shaw (Aquablue) and Paidi O'Brien (Osborne Meats/The Edge) - who took home the GC, Points and Mountains jerseys at the end of the race - it was always going to be tough to get in the prizes, but that didn't deter our riders!

Neal Hudson came home in the front chasing group on the opening stage, giving him 5 minutes on most of the field. That move was a large one of over twenty riders, meaning constant attempts to whittle it down through attack after attack. Hudson's tenacity is renowned after his Barrow GP performance, and he displayed the same grit to stay the course and come home 5th A2. He managed to move up to 4th, but was just off the A2 podium by an agonising handful of seconds. That performance will stand to him, and bodes well ahead of next weekend's Wexford 2 Day.

Ronan Grimes and Pat O'Brien both acquitted themselves well - O'Brien in an aggressive mode all weekend, and Grimes creeping up the GC sheet after each successive stage - finishing 46th of 80 starters. For an A3 rider competing against A2s and A1s, that's a ranking to be proud of.

Aideen Keenan began with only former Orwell Anne Dalton to contend with for the women's prize, but soon found it in her lap when Dalton DNF-ed on stage one. Not one to lie back, Keenan battled a mechanical to finish down the GC on the first stage, but a solid TT and some smart moves on the final stage saw her finish 57th of the 80 who originally signed on. For her efforts she bagged the women's prize, and plenty of experience to use in the impending Rás na mBan.

Hudson and Keenan power up the hill climb (photo thanks to Pawel Sadowski of shutterstills.com)

We hope to bring you news from the track and vets soon, as well as the underage league which is continuing throughout the summer. In the meantime, make sure to put August 21st in your diary for the end of league bash in the Blue Light!

Orwell League R19: Team Time Trial, Blessington (7/8/2014)

Full results available on the forum.

Beechmount Cup, Kilmessan (9/8/2014)

1 Ian Cassidy (Fixx Rouleurs)
2 Andrew Waters (Garda)
3 Noel Thompson (Smartlamp Aviation Display)
4 Ken Baka (Dublin Wheelers)
5 John Brady (Smartlamp Aviation Display)
6 George Devin (Drogheda Wheelers)

Unplaced A2s
Colm Bracken (Murphy Surveys Kilcullen)
John Priest (Lucan CRC)
Keith Walls (Navan)

Unplaced A3s
Martin Gilbert (Swords)
Eamonn Waters Drogheda)
John Walsh (Thermo)

Unplaced A4s
Arvik Klus (Stamullen M. Donnelly)
Donal Clavin (Trim)
Fergus Fagan (Trim)

Unplaced Junior
Darragh Long (Standard Life NRPT)

Unplaced Women
Ciara Kinch (Orwell Wheelers)

Collins Christle Memorial, Kilmessan (10/8/2014)

1 Javan Nulty (DID Dunboyne)
2 Anthony Doyle (Velo Revolution)
3 Ali Macauley (Phoenix)
4 Ian Richardson (UCD)
5 Mark Reilly (Lucan CRC)
6 John Lynch (Murphy Surveys)
7 Ronan Killeen (Lucan CRC)
8 Keith Wall (Navan Road Club)

Unplaced A2s
1 Colm Bracken (Murphy Surveys)
2 Stephen Byrne (Navan)
3 Ciaran Hallinan (DID Dunboyne)
4 Niall Doggett (Navan)

Unplaced A3s
1 Aiden Wall (Navan Road Club)
2 Eamonn Waters (Drogheda Wheelers)
3 Eoin Connolly (Swords)
4 Alan Maye (Clonard)

Unplaced Juniors
1 Seamus Synott (Wexford Wheelers)
2 Conor Kavanagh (Unnatached)
3 Barry Talt (Murphy Surveys Kilcullen)
4 Nathan McGeehan (Cuchulainn)

Women’s Race
1 Fran Meehan (Aquablue)
2 Orla Hendron (Orwell Wheelers)
3 Geraldine Gill (Bohermeen)
4 Karen Robinson (Garda)
5 Niamh Stevens (UCD)
6 Eimear O’Reilly (Towers Clondalkin)

A4 Race
1 Dave Casey (Fixx)
2 Blair Clinton (Navan)
3 Gary Lynch (Stamullen M. Donnelly)
4 George Devin (Drogheda Wheelers))
5 Ray Mullen (Navan Road Club)
6 Ivan Harnsen (Dublin Wheelers)
7 Derek Gormely (u/a)
8 Paul McDonell (Clonard)

Ballinrobe 2 Day

Results to follow...