Great Weekend for Wheelers Racing Team

Post date: Jun 08, 2015 9:54:8 PM

(By Steve Franzoni and Conor Canton)

What a weekend of racing the Lakeside Wheelers crew enjoyed. Up north in Donegal a strong team headed for the super hilly Rás nDhún na nGall. A traditional race for the Wheelers over the years, we returned with a strong team of riders. Following the recent pattern we took a midlands mixed team under the Mullingar banner. Adrian Carroll from Tullamore, Shane (Quintana) Quinn from Longford joined Mullingar's finest Peter Rimmer, Roy Carey and new boy Keith Finn. In the ladies race Sonja O'Mahoney was sole lady chasing glory. In support keeping the wheels turning was the super support crew of Outdoor Escape super wrench Steven Franzoni and rally driving ace Stuart Cox.

This three day race rates up there with the hardest event to do. Over recent years Damien Shaw in the yellow Wheelers outfit took the overall with ease. This year Keith was gunning for the prizes and we had built a team to help him achieve, and achieve we did.

The weekend proved very successful, Keith managed to take second U23 rider, and third and fourth on the final stages. These results sealed Keith's upgrade to the A1 category and elevated him up into the higher echelons of Irish bike racing, Stuart seems worried already.

Not to be beaten to the prize fund, Sonja managed second on the hill climb time trial, not bad for someone who HATES hills with a passion. She then managed, after some serious battling to seal third in general classification as well. A great weekend for Sonja, showing the talent we all know she has.

The rest of the team showed great form and ability to help Keith and support Sonja. The weather may not have been the best, with gale force winds and some rain, but the Mullingar team acquitted themselves admirably. These events are always great fun and this weekend was no different, but the guys even when under extreme pressure manage to keep in great spirits.

Other news came in at the time of writing. Michelle O'Halloran had taken the win in Navan today, over a minute clear on her own. This result has been a long time coming and was always on the cards.

Sean Nolan Grand Prix

(By Conor Canton Sunday 7th June 2015)

Today four Lakeside Wheelers turned up to take part in the A3 and A4 races in contention for the Sean Nolan Meath GP cup. David Nolan racing in A4 and Conor Canton, David Casserly and Matt Burke racing in the large field of A3 riders. The route consisted of two Laps of 37.5km circuit with a nice bump along the way to challenge the legs! The course was ️well marshalled and race ️well ran. David Nolan finished respectablyin the A4 race.

In the A3s the pace was high. Conor made an attempt to get in a early break but to no avail. Soon after a ten man break left the from which contained Matt Burke. The pace was high and Matt tried his best to keep in but retired to the main peloton to finish in the bunch along with Cass and Conor finishing ️well up in the bunch sprint for minor places.

The last 30km the pace was high and Conor was on the front drilling the pace up the hill with Cass strongly positioned nearby!! 75km of racing done averaging 40kph for the duration. Great day and well done to all the Wheelers who took part.

Wheelers Team in Navan for the Meath Grand Prix