|
|
|
Last Updated: May 1st, 2008 - 13:48:28 |
WEST COAST WHEELERS RACE REPORT
By Sadhbh Baxter, PRO West Coast Wheelers CC
Apr 29, 2008,
|
Email this article
|
West Coast Wheelers riders made a clean sweep of the podium places of their race on Sunday in Connemara. The course was a 105km tour of some of the toughest roads in the west, and as the weather closed in on the latter stages of the race it was a gruelling challenge to even finish, never mind sprint to the line.
The race started at Maam Community Centre, and the first challenge and sprint was for the King of the Hills, at the road leading over the Devil’s Mother to Lough Nafooey. This was a battle between WCW’s Ruaidhrí Geraghty and Galway Bay CC’s Eoghan Considine, both in-form riders.
At the top of the hill it was Geraghty who took the honours by only metres. These two had managed to get away from the rest of the bunch at this early stage, but the chasing bunch included three WCW and two Covey Wheelers (Westport) riders. This group of five worked well together and eventually caught the two break-away riders at different points along the Inagh Valley: by the time he was caught, Eoghan Considine had been in the break for almost 70km. At the finish line on the hill from Maam Cross to Maam, there was a sprint finish between WCW’s Brian O’Donnell and Geraghty for the honours, with O’Donnell winning by a bike length.
Third finisher was Donncha O’Brien of WCW, Noel Brady of Covey Wheelers getting a hard-fought-for fourth, Kamil Pasek (CCC Polsat) took fifth, and Daire Mooney of Eire Óg in Sligo sixth.
Some pictures from the event courtesy of Ger Mooney & Krystian Matczak
 |
| S1 Group on climb |
 |
| S2 Group |
 |
| Chasing group |
 |
| Eoghan Considine Galway Bay CC out in front for 70Km |
 |
| Ruaidhr Geraghty West Coast Wheelers chases Eoghan Considine Galway Bay CC |
 |
| The two leaders on the climb |
 |
| Brian O'Donnell and Donncha O'Brien WCW chase the break near Leenane |
 |
| Donal Kelly Galway Bay CC on KOH |
 |
| Brian O'Donnell crosses the line ahead of Donncha O'Brien both from WCW |
 |
| Noel Brady Covey Wheelers 4th |
 |
| Kornik Poisch CCC Polski 5th |
West Coast Wheelers would like to thank: Maam Community Centre for the use of their facilities; our club sponsors – Oscars Restaurant, Connemara Gateway Hotel, Pat O’Donnell Sports Massage, West Ireland Cycling, & James O’Donnell Personal Training; the Civil Defence for ambulance cover; Clifden Gardaí & the traffic corps; all the motorbike and roadside marshals; Krystian Matczak & Ger Mooney for photography; Phil & Bridget O’Donnell for catering.
-----------------------------------------------------------
IMAGES COPYRIGHT:
Any images included in this article remain the property of the photographer, by whom all rights are retained, 2008 ©. Use of images for electronic or print purposes is may be possible with the express, written permission of the photographer.
|
|
|
|
