Club History 2008/2009

The 2008/2009 committee saw Niall Dwyer take over as Club Captain while Niamh Stephens remained as Secretary for a second term. Brian Cox acted as Junior Treasurer and Anthony Walsh fulfilled the role of Public Relations Officer. Robert Higgins continued as the Club’s web coordinator and also took on the role of Equipment Officer, while his brother Brian was the Development Officer and leader of the Leisure section. Maoilíosa Ó Dubhthaigh again retained his joint status as Club President and Senior Treasurer while 2007/08 Club Captain Oisín Boydell joined Brendan Kilbride as the Club’s Vice-President.

Cait Elliott won Round 4 of the Super Cross (cyclo cross) Cup which took place in St. Annes Park in Dublin in mid-December. As the DCU hosted event coupled as an intervarsity race, Cait also landed the title of All-Ireland Intervarsity Cyclo Cross Champion.

UCD CC boasted both strong Road and Off-road teams for the 2009 Cycling Ireland racing season. The road team was captained by Scholarship student, Louise Moriarty and consisted of Ben Arant, Niall Dwyer, Jevon Newman, Ciarán Ó Conluain, Fiachra O’Loughlin, Colin Peirce, Fiachra Rowan, Niamh Stephens, Brian Sugrue and Anthony Walsh. The Off-road team consisted of Club Scholarship students Cait Elliott (Cross Country) and Rory Beirne (Down Hill), Robert Higgins and newcomer Conor Martin.

The Club received a major boost in pre-season when Club President, Maoilíosa Ó Dubhthaigh announced that UCD CC was granted permission to join the prestigious inter-club road racing league involving St. Tiernan’s CC, Lucan CRC, Orwell Wheelers and the Irish Road Club. This league runs from February until August and will be invaluable source of experience to the college riders. More good news was to follow when Cait Elliott was given sizeable Athletic Union Council funding towards a new bike in her bid to add to the two national titles she has already won to date for the Club.

UCD had a strong racing team this year with impressive results in both road and mountain biking in spite of a number of injuries. Anthony Walsh was selected in the top four of Irish cycling talent to train along side the Irish track team in November and the elite track squad in Aigle in January.

Fiachra Rowan also had a good start to the season claiming 3rd in the Des Hanlon Memorial in Carlow in March. In April UCD had 5 riders Colin Pierce, Niall Dwyer, Fiachra Rowan, Anthony Walsh and Caran O’Conluain in the Gorey 3 day with Anthony taking 3rd in Stage 2 TT and Ciaran 10th in Stage 3. Niamh Stephens competed in 4 of the 6 Boot Inn league races which included 11th in the TT and 5th in round 2.

Ciarán Ó’Conluain was upgraded to S2 during the season and he took part in many races with highlights including 2nd in the Des Hanlon Memorial, 2nd B in the Phoenix Park and 4th in the Betty Darey and O’Rourke road races. Fiachra finished in the top 20 in a sprint finish in stage 1 and 8th in Stage 3 giving 30th overall in the Kanturk 2-day while Niall Dwyer rode a good race but a technical problem on Stage 3 meant a time penalty. Other results for Fiachra included 3rd unplaced C and two 1st unplaced C in the Trader’s Cup, Phoenix Park criterium and Phoenix Park Grand Prix respectively.

In June, Louise Moriarty, returning to action following a broken wrist, claimed 9th in the National Road Race Championships. Meantime Anthony was racing in Canada taking two 5th places in the Richmond Time Trial series, 8th and 6th in the Mississauga Criterium Series and a 20th place on stage 3 of a professional-amateur Canadian stage race held in Milford. Anthony Walsh claimed 3rd place in the Sorento Time Trial.

July saw Louise Moriarty and Anthony Walsh compete in the National Track Championships with Louise claiming 3rd in the sprint, 5th in the 3km pursuit, 4th in the 500m TT and 8th in the 12km scratch race and Anthony taking 8th in the 1km TT and 4km qualifiers pursuit and 10th in the 20km scratch. Also on the track Louise took 2nd place in the 12km scratch race in the Eamon Ceannt Trophy. Ciaran continued to race strongly with 2nd B in Brendan Carroll Memorial in Stamullen while Niall finished in the top 20. Ciaran also finished 8th in Ballivor.

Heading to Donore in August Louise took 1st lady in the Brendan Campbell Memorial. Ciaran and Niall competed in the Ballinrobe 2-day with Niall taking 16th in Stage 1 to finish a respectable 31st overall.

Anthony Walsh was victorious in the UCD Road Race Championship finishing just ahead of Ciarán Ó Conluain. Niall Dwyer beat Ben Arant to the final podium position. The UCD Road Racing League Championship consisted of a 17 race series and was won by Ciarán, who amassed an impressive 132 points. Club Captain, Niall Dwyer finished on 114 points ahead of Ben in third on 90 points. League Secretary, Colin Peirce was 4th (82) ahead of long term leader Fiachra Rowan (66), who was relocated to Limerick and missed out on the final 8 races as a result. Recently crowned UCD RR Champion, Anthony Walsh finished 6th on 48 points and former Club Captain Gavin Haberlin, returning from a long term knee injury, finished a creditable 7th on 20 points. Jevon Newman (18), Niamh Stephens (18) and Brian Sugrue (14) completed the overall top 10 standings.

7 time winner Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong, took time out to train with UCD CC in the Phoenix Park in late August. Eóin Fitzpatrick, Alan Dunne, Ciarán, Anthony, Ben, Claire Rowan (Fiachra’s wife) and former Club President, Cormac Ó Dubhthaigh, availed of the opportunity to ride with the racing legend who recently finished 3rd in this year’s grand Tour. A thousand other riders also participated.

In September defending champion Louise Moriarty and Niamh Stephens travelled down to Kerry for Rás na mBan. Louise came 4th and 11th in Stage 1, Stage 3 TT and won the bunch sprint to take 2nd on Stage 4 leading to 7th overall and 3rd in the Points competition. Anthony, Al Dunne and Fiachra Rowan competed in the Adare stage race with Anthony finishing a fine 6th overall.

In mountainbiking Cait Elliott, who was on Erasmus in Switzerland during April and June, finished narrowly outside the top 20 in a number of races in the Racer Bikes Cup Series. Cait returned to Ireland to successfully defend her National Championship title at Dunmore Mountain. Cait won the opening round of the 3-race K-Capital Challenge Series finishing ahead of most of the men in the process. She was 1st lady and 27th over all was a good start to this 3-race challenge in Round 1 of the K-Capital challenge. In August, Cait took the UCD jersey to the UK to take 1st place in the Brighton Big Dog. In September, Cait finished an impressive 8th in the final round of the British National Points Series, which was held in Newnham Park, Plymouth. The star studded field included a former Olympic, World and European Champion and seven nationalities were represented in all. She wrapped up her season with the last round of the K Capital Challenge, again taking the women's race win and finishing 13th overall.

Down Hill Captain, Rory Beirne's season was effectively put on halt after he suffered a separated shoulder in a pre-season training incident. His comeback race saw him compete in round 3 of the National Points series in Rostrevor where he finished a creditable 16th overall in May. Round 4 of the NPS took place in Cahir in June and Rory demonstrated some fantastic form to finished 3rd. He followed that impressive ride with a 4th place in the Senior category at the National Down Hill Championships in July. At the penultimate (7th) round of the NPS he placed 6th despite puncturing. The season closed in October with a minor injury in the final NPS.

Finally, Cait Elliott, Ciarán Ó Conluain, Louise Moriarty, Oisín Boydell and Rory Beirne were honoured with Athletic Union Council Sports Awards at a ceremony held in May for their sporting achievements on behalf of the University over the previous twelve months. UCD Cycling Club finished close runners (out of 61 UCD clubs) up to the Men’s Boat Club in the 'Elite Club of the Year' category and everyone who contributed to that success should be very proud of their efforts.

The Club’s annual awards were held in the UCD Sports Centre in early November. The winners on the evening were as follows:

Cait Elliott retained the Club’s top award - the Brian Lennon Memorial Club Rider of the Year. The Club Scholarship student won the Intervarsity Cyclo Cross Championships in December. On her return from erasmus, she successfully defended her National Elite Cross Country Championship title. She won each round of the K-Capital Challenge Series and is also the reigning Irish National XC Marathon Champion. She has been awarded a Sports Scholarship for the 2009/10 college year.

The ‘Club Volunteer of the Year Award’ deservedly went to Club Captain Niall Dwyer who contributed enormously to the success of the Club both on and off the bike. Niall’s ever presence at training spins encouraged both senior riders and new members alike and this fostered a great team spirit for the season that lay ahead. He was runner-up in the Club Road Racing League and was 3rd in the UCD Road Race Championship.

Ciarán Ó Conluain was a very popular victor of the UCD Cycling Club’s Special Achievement Award. He was upgraded to S2 during the season based on a series of impressive result - runner-up in the Des Hanlon Memorial, 2nd B in both the Phoenix Park race and in the Brendan Carroll Memorial in Stamullen, 4th in both the Betty Darcy and O’Rourke road races. Ciarán comfortably claimed the top placing in the season long UCD Road Racing League and was runner-up spot in the Club Road Race Championship.

The Mountainbiking Achievement Award went to 2008/09 Club Scholarship student Rory Beirne. Despite an injury ravaged season season, Rory managed some fine results – 3rd in Round 4 of the NPS in Cahir in June, 4th in the Senior category at the National Down Hill Championships in July and 6th in Round 7 of the NPS in Rostrevor in late September. He is the first member of the Down Hill section to be honoured with a Club award.

Sports Scholarship student, Louise Moriarty, was a deserving winner of the Ladies Achievement Award for the second year in succession having claimed a bronze in the sprint competition at the National Track Championships. Louise was runner-up in the 12km scratch race for the Eamon Ceannt Trophy. She won the Brendan Campbell Memorial RR in Donore.

Hall of Fame Awards were presented to 1998/99 Club Captain David Lane (who competed with UCD from 1997-2004) and 2004/05 Club Captain John Walsh (2005-2008) for their outstanding contributions to the Club over the years.