Wheelers Well Represented in Loughrea

Post date: Mar 04, 2013 8:42:6 PM

Lakeside Wheelers were well represented in the West Coast Wheelers open race in Loughrea on Sunday 24th February. The first race off on the day was the A4 race which contained around 90 riders. We were represented by Eoghan Kevlihan, Mickey Dan Murtagh, Aidan Daly, Brendan Kiernan and Charlie Sheridan. The weather was favourable with blue skies and dry roads as the lads lined up at the start for the 57km lumpy circuit. The bunch stayed together over the 5km climb of Derrybrien and it was only at the 35km mark that the winning breakaway of 15 riders got away after a few riders came down and disrupted the bunch. Even with the best efforts of our lads in the chasing group the gap was too large to bridge. Well done to all the Wheelers especially Brendan Kiernan who was competing in his first open race event.

Next off was the second race of the day over a distance of 87km. This was a handicapped event open to A1/A2/A3 riders, with the A3's numbering 60, getting a 4 minute gap on the A1/A2 scratch men who numbered 25 riders. We were represented in A3 by Billy Cunnane and Ken Berry and in A1 by John Murray. The bunch managed to stay together over the climb of Derrybrien with a few riders instigating breakaways but nothing stuck. The chasing scratch group split with 4 riders going clear and then 6.

These merged and together they caught the hardworking A3 bunch ahead of them at around the 40km mark. Despite plenty of attacking from the large lead group nothing decisive went clear and at the 60km mark a further group of 6 scratch men made it across. It was in a couple kilometres from that point that the winning breakaway went clear which contained Wheeler John Murray. Luck wasn't on John's side as he punctured around 15km from the finish. The breakaway group kept the chasing bunch containing Billy Cunnane and Ken Berry at bay to take the first 8 places.

The A4 team that took part in the recent race in Loughrea