With the Spring Spin (www.springspincycles.org) just the previous weekend and a very wet and cold evening promised it could have been expected that numbers at stage 2 of the club league would be a little lower than normal. But it soon became apparent that tired legs and heavy rain was not going to deter members from heading to Dysart for a bit of fun. By the time Brendan Kiernan had donned the race leader’s white jersey to start stage 2, a total 68 club riders had signed on to take part. That number means that including marshals, 99 members have participated in the club league over the first 2 stages so far, which shows excellent support from members for this club event.

 

Stage 2 welcomed many members who were trying the club league for the first time – we hope you enjoyed it! It can take a race or two for the handicapping to find everyone in their suitable group so don’t be disheartened if you finished behind the group you started with – stick with it and hopefully we will see you at stage 3. As per league rules, the club league is a development league, and riders may be moved up or down a category colour or starting group within a category at any stage during the league.

 

On stage 2 Dave Fagan took the role of Race Organiser and Noel Delaney the role of Head Marshal. Both men deserve praise for the exceptional job they did with everything running well on the night in the orange high viz jackets. Carmel Dolan looked after the video finish.

 

We had a 10 minute delay to the race start as the race organisers ensured that there was full marshal coverage as per safety plan – so thanks to the extra marshals for offering to help keep riders safe on what was a very cold evening to be standing on a corner.

 

Well done to Eoin Mooney (Blue category) taking the win on his first club league event closely followed in 2nd place by Pat Clarke. Eoin rode a measured race to maintain a narrow lead from the chasing groups at the line. Mick Hynes and Roy Carey clamed 3rd and 4th closely followed by Muirna Walsh and Elaine Purdue in 5th and 6th. The first yellow category rider home was Jack Nugent just a bike length ahead of race leader Brendan Kiernan. Seamus Moran, Dermot Hogan, Karl Moran and John Clearly, all in the yellow category were the next riders to finish. In a long tough sprint finish Damien O’Brien took the honours in the red category, followed by a wheel length to Mickey (Dan) Murtagh, Stuart Cox, Paul Crowley and Colm Lynch. Damien even had time to put the two arms up – well done.

As there are points for every position, even if your group is caught by a faster group there is still an incentive to keep racing, and this seen sprint finishes from almost every group to finish.

 

As advised on the stage details emailed at the start of the league, Stage 2 was a bonus night for the Yellow category – with additional points available for the top 3 yellow category riders to finish – 1ST + 6 points , 2nd +4 points, 3rd +2 points. There are bonus stages for the Red and Blue categories to come later in the league so check the stage details for these nights.

 

League Positions after Stage2:

 

Overall: 1. Brendan Kiernan

Brendan Kiernan, leading Mick Hynes by 3 points, wears the Overall Leaders white jersey in Stage 3.