Easter Weekend Racing Roundup

Post date: Apr 08, 2013 9:28:28 PM

On a very busy Easter weekend on the racing scene Lakeside Wheelers were represented in many different races dotted across the country. With Damien Shaw winning the overall in the prestigious Ràs Mumhan riding for his Aqua Blue racing team. We also had some excellent results in the may other races that were taking place. Below is the reports all those said races.

Rás Laois 2013

Ossory CC from Rathdowney, Laois hosted their first ever open race on Easter Sunday last. It was a great success with 92 riders in the men's A4 cat race and 44 ladies in their separate race. We were represented by Matt Burke, Eoghan Kevlihan & Muirna Walsh. On a lumpy course, with a nice challenging 2 km climb thrown in the middle of the circuit, it proved to be a quite challenging course with the strong head wind on the last 8km and an uphill sprint finish in the middle of Rathdowney town.

Muirna performed very well in the ladies race and came home in the second chasing group. Both Matt and Eoghan were active at the front of the bunch all day long. A solo Lucan rider was caught with 1km to go after staying away for 20km and all the counter attacks started. Eoghan managed to follow the right wheels at the front of the bunch and got in a good position to take 4th place in a tight finish. Matt was unfortunate to get caught behind a crash 500m from the line. Well done to all and congratulations to Ossory CC on a great event.

Rás Connemara

Eoin Lynch travelled down to Co. Galway over the Easter weekend to compete in this challenging event. This was a three day race starting with a 95km stage on the Saturday out into the Connemara hills. Easter Sunday started with a time trial in the morning around the village of Oughterard and the afternoon another 95km stage out to the country. The final stage was on Easter Monday and was a 50km stage consisting of 5x10km laps in the Oughterard area. Eoin had a mechanical problem on the first stage which left him out of contention for the Rest of the weekends racing.

The 47th Gorey 3 Day

On Easter Saturday Wheelers racing team was in Blessington Co. Wicklow for the Start of the Gorey 3 Day. This Event caters for the A2/A3 category of riders. We were represented by Billy Cunnane, Ken Berry, Paul Crowley and Steve Franzoni.

Stage 1 was over a distance of 120km from Blessington Village to Gorey and a lap of a 24km circuit when we arrived there. From the off the speeds were high with numerous breakaways being attempted but the 200 strong bunch kept each one in toe. At the 30km mark Ken Berry was unfortunate to puncture and was delayed getting a wheel by support due to the narrow roads and the length of the cavalcade. Ken tried his best to get back on to the bunch over the remainder of the stage but the gap was too great for him to bridge. Billy Cunnane and Paul Crowley finished in the Bunch with Steve Franzoni finishing shortly afterwards.

Stage 2 was a 6.4km TT on the Enniscorthy road into Gorey. All lads posted strong times.

Stage 3 was over a distance of 96km. It consisted of 4 laps of a 24km tough circuit, which included the climb of Cranford Hill. On the 3rd lap Steve and Billy were unfortunate to come down in a bunch smash. Both were uninjured and Steve managed to get up and powered his way back onto the main bunch. Billy was less fortunate and had to repair his bike before setting off to chase the bunch down. Steve and Paul finished in the main bunch with Billy finishing with a group of 8.

Stage 4 was over a distance of 96km from Gorey to Blessington. The speeds were once again very high with a few breaks being attempted. It was at the 60km mark in the town of Baltinglass that a smash happened again in the bunch. Billy was once again unfortunate to get tangled up in it. Again he was lucky not to get injured. He chased very hard to get back on the bunch but the distance was too great for him to bridge and he finished some 5 minutes down on the main bunch. Paul and Steve stayed with the bunch until the Sprint. Steve won the bunch sprint and got 3rd overall on the stage. Well done Steve on a great performance. A big thank you has to go to our support crew of Brendan Kiernan, Damien O'Brien and Peter Rimmer who volunteered their services over the weekend and also to Ken Berry for the supply of his van to transfer all the bikes and gear and to Eddie Tyrell at Grange Motors for the supply of the team car.

Team Lakeside Wheelers Gorey 3-Day 2013