Kanturk 3-Day

Niall Dwyer and Fiachra Rowan made the early morning journey to Kanturk on Saturday for stage one of the Corkman 3-day stage race. One hundred riders filled the narrow, almost cobbled roads such were the number of pot-holes for three laps of 30km circuit. Although the route had one climb, the race stayed together until the final sprint. This was perhaps owing to the control Dan Morrissey CC exerted over the group! Fiachra placed in the top 20 sprint finish and Niall finished safely in the bunch.

Stage two was the 9.6km time trial. UCD were off as the last few riders. While this meant the roads had dried from the overnight rain, it also meant that the building windy conditions would play a significant role in their times. The TT was won in a time of 11:49, Fiachra finished in 13:31 and Niall with 14.56

Sunday afternoon's stage 3 was a 6 lap circuit adding up to 80km of racing. The roads were narrow and with Dan Morrissey occupying the top 4 places, no breaks were allowed away. Fiachra came 8th in the aggressive bunch sprint that had a number of collisions in the final 2km. Niall had a technical early in the race and was given a standard time penalty of 35 minutes.

The final stage on Monday was, once again, a bunch affair with yellow firmly in the control of Dan Morrissey. In a comical incident, the whole peleton was held up at a level crossing as the Mallow commuter train passed through. Unfortunately, this was within 5km of the finish and the high speed of the bunch was effectively neutralised by the affair. The restart was fast but finished shortly afterwards just outside Kanturk. Fiachra was disappointed with 22nd. Niall finished in the bunch.

Overall, the weekend was a good exercise with Fiachra finishing 30th and Niall further back due to his time penalty in the only S2/3/V/J/L races in the country. Unfortunately, no showers at the race finish coupled with Bank Holiday traffic made for a long journey home!

Next racing is the club league on Thursday night and the Hammond races on Sunday.