After a fine season on the road, Gavin Haberlin was a popular choice to assume the Captaincy for 2005/2006 with Brian Higgins and St. John Walsh acting as Secretary and Junior Treasurer respectively. David O’Malley was elected public relations officer, Robert Donnelly Equipment/Web coordinator, and Cait Elliot became Development Officer. The road racing team consisted of Gavin Haberlin, Brian Higgins, Niamh Stephens, Kevin Harnett, Robert Donnelly, Anthony Walsh, Simon Reddy, and last years Captain, John Walsh. Newcomer, Robert Donnelly took it upon himself to re-launch the Club website after a dormancy period of 4 years.
The competitive season got off to a good start with 3 riders competing in the first round of the inaugural Intervarsity Mountainbiking League, which was hosted by the Institute of Technology Tallaght in November. Cait Elliot won the Ladies event, but the team missed out on the top awards. UCD Mountainbikers hosted Round 2 in Ballinastoe Wood, Roundwood, Co. Wicklow. Nigel Shekleton, Rob Higgins, Oisín Boydell and Cait Elliot were instrumental in organizing this event. They were joined on the day by fellow UCDCC. riders Brendan Doyle and John Walsh. Unfortunately the host club missed out on the team victory by a single point. Better news was that Cait Elliot won her second Intervarsity League race in succession.
The final round of the MTB intervarsity league took place in Killaloe, Co. Clare on Saturday 25 February and was hosted by the University of Limerick Mountainbike Club. Having narrowly missed out on victory in the previous 2 rounds, the UCD team was determined to take first place and a strong team consisting of Oisin Boydell, Robert Higgins, Cait Elliot, Nigel Shekleton and Simon Alvey beat 5 other colleges to claim overall victory in this race.
The road season got under way in late February with both team captain Gavin Haberlin and Kevin Harnett lining up in the opening event of the Road National Points Series, the Bray Grand Prix. In awful conditions Gavin managed to get the road team’s season off to a flyer by winning the C Category event. Kevin made important progress, finishing his very first race. Both Gavin and Rob Donnelly turned up for the Dundalk GP which was abandoned after a serious accident. Gavin was then selected for the Leinster Cycling Team to race in the Downpatrick Armagh Classic. Unfortunately for Gavin there was a pile-up a kilometre from the line which he was unable to avoid. The Balbriggan GP saw a larger line-up of Kevin, Gavin, John Walsh and Simon Reddy. Gavin picked up some more prize money finishing in 7th. Anthony Walsh got his season underway with a very strong showing in Navan, finishing an excellent 10th. He was again looking strong at the Roundwood GP until a puncture forced him out of contention. He later suffered a bad knee injury that saw him out of action for 6 weeks. Gavin, Kevin and John took part in the Stamullen GP, where Gavin picked up 8th in the bunch sprint. Kevin made the trip down to Newbridge where he got his first bunch finish of the season.
While the lads were battling away at the Sunday races, Niamh Stephens was in the thick of things in the Women’s Boot Inn League. She finished second in the opening race, picking up the first of many points that she got over the season. Gavin finished 10th in Bohermeen before settling down to study for the summer exams. 5 weeks later Gavin was back on his bike, finishing 3rd in the Swords GP. Coming back from injury, Anthony finished in the bunch in the Phoenix Park GP.
July was a great month for UCD. Niamh continued to accumulate points in the Boot Inn League, Gavin although beaten just on the line, finished 3rd in Enniscorthy and got the necessary points for promotion to Category 2, and both Kevin and Anthony were in the Top 10 at the Portlaoise GP. Anthony sprinted to 4th in Robinstown a week later. Both Anthony and Kevin attended the Leinster Championships; however point finishes evaded them on the day.
On the mountainbike front, Oisin Boydell competed in the National Cross Country Points Series achieving 10th place in his category overall. He also took 10th place at the National Cross Country Championships at Kilruddery, Bray in July and 5th place at the National Cross Country Marathon Championships in Carlingford, Co. Louth in September. Another notable result for this UCD rider was 3rd place at the MAD Dash at Slade Valley in July. Colm Bradley took part in a dirt jump showcase event as part of the Riverfest festival in Limerick City at the end of April, which was the first time such an event had been organised in the country. Both Colm and Oisin completed the summer mountainbike racing season by racing in the Epic Blast in September, another unique racing event which combines both cross country and downhill mountainbiking disciplines.
September brought an end to the season, but our UCD riders were determined not to finish it out quietly. Niamh, who amassed 41 points to finish a very creditable 11th overall in the Dublin Boot Inn Series, entered the Ras na mBan International 2-Day, where she finished very well – 49th in the Time Trial and 59th overall - amongst some stiff competition from home and abroad. It was a great way to finish her season and she has plenty to look forward to next year. Finally Gavin entered the National Triathlon Championships in Dublin on the UCD Relay Team. In absolutely fantastic weather, the UCD trio put the newly formed UCD Tri Club on the map, taking second place in Ireland.
The Club, under the guidance of Club President, Maoilíosa ‘Mil’ Ó Dubhthaigh, negotiated the purchase of two top of the range Club Mountainbikes for the use of Club members costing close to €3,000. It is expected that interest in the mtb section will soar as a result. Anyone interested in availing of the use of these bikes should contact Oisín Boydell.
The future is looking very bright for the Club and it hopes to boast a larger and more experienced squad to compete on road and off-road events nationwide during the ’07 season.
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