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Post date: Jul 01, 2013 9:39:55 PM
(By Mark Monaghan)
On Saturday June 22nd last we had a team of four riders (John Murray, Peter Rimmer, Robbie Kenny & Billy Cunnane) taking part in the National vet Championships in the picturesque town of Carlingford in Co. Louth hosted by Cuchalinn CC.
The team on the day were supported on the day by Mark Monaghan & Director Sportive supreme Damien Shaw. With the race starting at 10:30am we were to depart the Mullingar at 7:00am but for yours truly sleeping it out till after 7 we still made it in plenty of time for the lads to sign-on and for us to get all the necessary information for the race and partake in the car draw (we drew car no.8). The race was to be run over a 14km lap by eight times & as with most cycling events started bang on time.
The first lap was pretty much a tame affair with the riders getting to grips with route. From what we had been reading in the media and on social media sites we had been lead to believe that the route was to be flat, well far be it from me to question my learned friends but the back part of this course was far from flat! After covering the first lap relatively unscathed the race was to be lit up now that we hit the climb on the second lap. A group of nine 9 (including John Murray) quickly got a gap on the field and were shortly joined by two other riders namely Peter Rimmer and defending champion Joe Fenlon.
Listening to the radio as the numbers of the riders were called out we quickly realised that all the pre-race favourites had made the break with the exception of one or two riders. The breakaway group quickly got into their rhythm and by the time we were halfway through lap three the gap was over a minute, thanks no less to some serious riding by all of the group hitting speeds of over 70kmph on the main road heading for Carlingford. When a group gets a gap of over a minute the support cars are then allowed to overtake the main field in order to give support to their riders.
next few laps seemed to go by very quickly (easy for me to say sitting in the car shooting the breeze with Damo!), and by the 5th lap it was more than apparent that the winner was to come from the breakaway. Sure enough with two laps to go the attacking started and unfortunately with all the attacking and after putting in a hard shift in the break Peter Rimmer got distanced from the break. When we hit the last lap the group had split into two groups with eventual winner Hugh Mulhearne and Gregory Swinard keeping the chasers at bay and pulling out a gap over 30 seconds at one point as the chasing group weren’t working together.
The two leaders were now battling it out for the top honours and the attacks came thick and fast out of the chasing group with Derek Joyce managing to get third with John Murray taking 6th in the ensuing sprint. Well done to Peter Rimmer finishing in 17th place & also to Robbie Kenny and Billy Cunnane who put in a good shift in the bunch and finished well up in the bunch sprint in order to keep us in contention for the team prize in which we came second losing out by only 3 points to Newry CC.
Well done to all the lads who race in very thought conditions and special thank you to Eddie Tyrell and Grange Motors who yet again supplied us with a car for the day. It was greatly appreciated Eddie.
The Lakeside Wheelers Vets Team in the 2013 Championships
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