Club History 2007/2008

The 2007/2008 season saw the longest serving member the Club, Oisin Boydell assume the Captaincy. It is the first time that the Club has been headed by a member of the mountainbiking section. Niamh Stephens – the 2006/07 Ladies Rider of the Year – acted as Secretary while Eoin Fitzpatrick took over the role of Junior Treasurer. Rob Higgins (PRO/Web Co-ordinator), Kevin Harnett (Intervarsity Co-ordinator), Al Dunne (Equipment Officer), Rory Beirne (Mountainbike/Downhill Officer) and Niall Dwyer (New Member/Development Officer) made up the remainder of the committee. Maoilíosa Ó Dubhthaigh retained his joint role as Club President and Senior Treasurer while Brendan Kilbride continued in the role of Vice-President.

The Club registered 12 riders with Cycling Ireland with the intention of competing in road and off-road events nationwide. The road racing team was headed by Sports Scholarship student, Louise Moriarty, who is aiming to be the first UCDCC rider to qualify for an Olympic event. The Club also retained the services of Niall Dwyer, Niamh Stephens, Al Dunne and former Club Captain John Walsh for the coming season. Newcomers Thorsten Knipfer, Colin Pierce and Fiachra Rowan completed the road line up. The mountainbike/ downhill team consisted of Club Scholarship student, Oisin Boydell, Rory Beirne and Rob Higgins – all of whom competed for the Club last season – and newcomer Brian Cox.

November saw a good finish to the downhill season in Waterford with Rory Beirne finishing 14th in the senior category of the final NPS league race in spite of a crash and puncture. Rory finished an impressive 5th overall in the 2007 NPS league of 70 riders. In the Djouce trail challenge Brian Cox, in his first race for UCD, placed an excellent 31st with Cait Elliot 11th and Oisin Boydell finishing in 8th of 88 finishers. The 3rd cyclocross race saw the new UCD rider Bastian Matthias finishing a creditable 21st in Tymon Park, Tallaght.

While most Club members braved the harsh December weather to continue their winter training programme, 2006/07 UCDCC Rider of the Year, Louise Moriarty, escaped to warmer climates in search of Olympic qualification points. Although she faced against stern competition in the many track races she competed in while based in Melbourne, two ‘Points’ victories justified her decision to race so far from home. She competed in World Cup races in Los Angeles in January and narrowly missed out on making the ‘Points’ final.

The month of March started brightly as Louise Moriarty inspired the ladies team to victory in the All-Ireland Inter-varsity Road Championships for the second successive year in an event that UCD co-hosted with DCU and Trinity. Fellow team mates Niamh Stephens and Gráinne Finn were 4th and 6th respectively overall. For the record Louise won both the time trial and the road race titles as she easily claimed the overall individual crown. Meanwhile in the men’s event, UCD’s top finishers were Brian Crinion, who was runner up and Anthony Walsh who placed fifth overall in what was a very competitive and large field. Despite this the team overall took a podium position with third place overall.

The following month Ciaran O'Conluain finished a very creditable 4th overall in the Stamullan GP. Anthony continued to place highly in races, most notably when he took 2nd in Des Hanlon in Carlow and 5th in both the Jazzer Whittery in Balbriggan and in Stamullen. In May Ciaran took 8th in the 3rd stage of the Kanturk 3-day and 3rd unplaced C in the Roundwood Grand Prix.

Louise narrowly missed out on two senior national titles in June. She just missed out on retaining her time trial crown against strong opposition and was forced to settle for second instead. The following day she fought bravely for an elusive national road title and by the end of the race, she captured the bronze medal. Louise also competed in the prestigious Tour du Grand Montréal in Canada. Her best stage finish was 14th which was very impressive given the strong international field that competed. She completed the stage race in the top 50 overall.

The following month she was to finish 6th in a sprint finish in Erondegem in Belgium. However it was her performances on Irish soil that brought most pride to the Club. She completed a remarkable clean sweep on the track in Sundrive Road by claiming the national track 500m, 3km pursuit, points and scratch titles.
Louise’s performances helped to inspire her Club mates. Anthony got 7th in the Stephen Roche Grand Prix while Ciaran won the C category in Laois and was 6th overall in Robinstown. In August Ciaran claimed 1st C overall in the Wheelworx Superleague, 5th overall in Kilmessan, 8th in North Down and he won the C category in Bellowstown, Donore and in Kilmessan.

There was no let up in the results in September. Anthony Walsh claimed a highly commendable bronze medal as an S2 in the Leinster Time Trial championships while Moriarty returned to the winner’s enclosure by dominating the Rás na mBan international stage race. Not only did the scholarship student top the overall and points classifications, she also claimed the opening two stages of the 3 day event which was held in Sneem, County Kerry.

UCDCC boasted its strongest mountainbike team this season with great results seen in several categories. Rory Beirne, Rob Higgins and Club Captain Oisín Boydell began the season with the ChainReaction DH winter league in February in which Oisin and Rob took 9th and 30th place respectively in the Sports category in round one while Rory acheived 12th in the Seniors category and Oisin achieved 13th again in Sports in the 2nd round. Oisin then went on to compete in the XC K-Capital cup series in the Experts category, remarkably finishing as the overall winner.

The Irish National XC Champs were held in Kilruddery in July and it was to be a special day for the Club. Cait Elliot, who had only recently returned from months of travelling abroad, amazingly captured UCD’s first ever National Mtb title. Oisín Boydell put in a tremendous effort in the Expert category and was rewarded with a silver medal. Rory Beirne placed 4th in the DH national championships in Cahir as Senior. Oisín also finished a creditable 192nd of 1500 in the Mega Avalanche endurance downhill race in the Alps. The Irish XC Marathon National Championships were held in August and this time UCD captured double gold – Cait in the Elite women’s and Oisín in the Expert category. Oisin then went on to take 5th place overall in the Cooley XC marathon race.

Oisín and Cait both competed with distinction in the Cross Country National Points Series which ran throughout the season, the final round of which took place in Castlewellan in September. Oisín saw off strong opposition to claim yet another NPS win and was crowned the overall series champion. Wearing the Irish National Champion's jersey Cait won the Elite Ladies race, after an early battle with Torque rider Mel Spath. However it was the latter who won the series outright pushing Cait into the runners-up position by a mere 5 points. Rory Beirne put in yet another impressive DH season with 3rd place overall in the Senior category of the National Series. He consistently placed in the top 10 ten and at final round at Whitehorse in October took first place on a treacherously wet course by a broad margin of 3.5 seconds.

The Club’s annual awards took place in UCD’s ‘Colours Room’ in early December. Current and past members assembled to celebrate UCD CC’s more successful competitive year to date. The winners on the evening were as follows:

Cait Elliott added to her ‘Best Domestic based Female Senior Rider’ at the Cycling Ireland Membership Awards by claiming the 2007/08 ‘Brian Lennon Memorial Club Rider of the Year Award’. She finished the season as both the Irish National XC Champion and Irish National XC Marathon Champion.

Anthony Walsh won the Special Achievement Award after recording a number of fine results in road races, time trials and on the track during the course of the season. On the back of that season, he received a call up to the National Track Squad for the 2009 season.

The ‘Club Volunteer of the Year Award’ deservedly went to Rob Higgins for his outstanding contribution to the blog-style website and also to the mountainbiking section of the Club.

The Mountainbiking Achievement Award went to 2007/08 Club Scholarship student Oisín Boydell who won the Expert category in the XC Marathon National Championships. He also won the Cross Country National Points Series.

Quadruple National Track Champion (500m, 3km Pursuit, Points and Scratch), Louise Moriarty won the Ladies Achievement Award. Louise had also gained podium finishes in both the National Time Trial and Road Race Championships.

Hall of Fame Awards were presented to former Club Captains Andrew O’Carroll (2000/01 & 2001/02) and Dermot O’Dwyer (1999/2000) for their outstanding contributions to the Club over the years.