About a third of the way through the Track Season we would like to bring you an update on how Orwell is getting on and give you some notice of upcoming events that may be of interest.
Early season
During February, March and April weekly training sessions for adults and youths are held on Saturday mornings at the track in Sundrive. More advanced riders can also do Derny paced sessions.
Swifty is tucked in nicely here
These sessions shake the winter rust off, hone the skills and prepare the riders for the summer league. The 2 hour training sessions do continue throughout the summer and are on most Saturdays at 10:00 (seniors) and 12:00 (youths).
Summer League
April to June
At the end of April the first of two race leagues begins. Riders go into A, B, C or D classifications and have between 4 or 5 races each evening over the 8 weeks of the competition.
After 5 weeks of the completion Orwell are 2nd in the club completion out of 18 teams; a long way behind host club Sundrive but enjoying a healthy lead over 3rd placed Black Rose. Two of our cyclists, David Swift (B) and Uisneach Sheridan (D) head the table in their categories.
In the elite A category Fionn Sheridan is our leading points scorer - lying 13th in a very competitive group.
In B category, David Swift is dominating with seven 1st places to his name already. In 4th place Daniel McElroy is only one point off the podium and regularly features at the business end of the races. Eddie Lynch, Dick O’Brien and Orla Hendron have all picked up placings here as well.
In the C category Oisin Boland is in 8th, and together with Naoise Sheridan, Diarmuid Collins and Malcolm Garland are all flying the Orwell flag. They have 20 podium places between them including six 1st place finishes.
The youngest member of the Sheridan clan, Uisneach Sheridan is holding off determined Sundrive challengers in the D category enjoying a five point lead after being 1st seven times so far. Newcomer Andrew Ryan currently lying 6th has a shot at 3rd despite giving his rivals a three week head start.
This competition will finish on June 17th and we hope to be reporting on continued success.
Autumn League
July 1st to August 19th – 8 weeks of racing
A second league will commence on July 1st and give anyone who missed out on the first one a chance to experience and participate in track racing . Entry Fee is €30 and you will get well over 30 races if you attend each week.
If you did the Orwell taster session and are thinking about it the league you just need to attend one of the Saturday morning training sessions and then you would be fully accredited.
Accreditation dates available on the Track cycling web site: http://www.trackcycling.ie/
International Track Grand Prix
July 10th/11th
Mark the date in your diary, a great opportunity to see International track stars on home soil. More information to follow closer to the date.
Track Taster
On April 17th we had a track taster session for Orwell members. 18 of us - seen here with coach Paddy Davis - took part and it was voted an unqualified success by participants.
You can read all about it here.
