It was a winning weekend for the Dan Morrissey Carrick Wheelers team, with victories recorded in counties Galway, Carlow and Wexford as the team enhanced it reputation as one of the best teams in the country.
First up were the All Ireland Youth Championships, which were held on Saturday and Sunday in Inch, Co. Wexford. There was three separate races for each age category, with a time trial, a criterium and a road race for the under 11 year olds up to the under 16’s. Michael O’Loughlin was the club’s star performer and got off to a flying start by winning the time trial by a very impressive margin of 21 seconds on Saturday. However on Sunday he just missed out on another gold medal when he was pipped in both the criterium and the road race. Still one gold and two silver was a great return for the weekend, and another All Ireland title to add to the O’Loughlin household collection!
Most of the senior team opted to make the long journey to Oughterard in Co. Galway for Rás Connemara, and the race was held over two stages, with a short time trial on Sunday morning followed by a 55 mile road race in the afternoon. Club strongman Kevin Shelley powered his way round the time trial course in his customary huge gear to great effect to record a well deserved victory, with John Dempsey also getting on the podium in third place. In the road race Kevin came under pressure to defend his yellow jersey and was forced to settle for eight place on the stage when a breakaway group escaped the main field to contest the stage win. However John Dempsey was in this lead group, and he completed the club’s domination of the event by sprinting home in first place on the stage and securing a superb overall victory for the team.
The final race of the weekend was the Mark Hayden Memorial race in Kildavin, Co. Carlow also on Sunday, and this event attracted many of the top first category riders in the country, with the top Dublin club’s well represented as well as the best riders from the South East. The tough hilly circuit soon had the huge field under pressure, and there were numerous breakaway attempts before five riders pulled away to open a decisive lead on the last lap. Dan Morrissey Carrick Wheelers were represented in this group by Mark Power, and after his fine second place in the Tommy Sheehan Memorial the previous week, was showing his best form of the season. His biggest threat appeared to come from young Stephen Halpin, just home on a break from a successful season racing full time in Belgium. As the approached the finishing two miles, Mark launched a blistering attack which caught his rivals off guard and he opened a decisive 50 yard gap, which he held all the way to the line and earned him one of best wins of his career.
Halpin easily won the sprint for second from Dublin’s Mark Henegan, with the Comeragh CC duo of Robin Kelly and Keith Gater next home in fourth and fifth places.
So yet another string of victories for Carrick Wheelers, with the most pleasing aspect of it being that the wins are coming from different riders every week, and shows the tremendous strength of the team. Hopefully the victories will keep coming for the remaining weeks of the season, but either way 2009 will go down as yet another great year for this famous club.
Recent Comments