Cait Elliott in British NPS

Cait Elliott reports from Plymouth:

"I was over in England at the weekend along with a group of Irish mountain bikers at the final round of the British NPS series in Newnham Park, Plymouth. A C1 classification meant the race attracted a big field of top class riders from all over the world. The course was hilly with some nice woodland singletrack, but nothing particularly technical. Recent good weather made for very dry, fast racing.

In the Elite female race there were riders from 7 different countries including former Olympic and multiple world and European champion, Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesja of Norway and several girls just back from the World Championships in Australia. It was a great race, tough with the fast conditions and top competition but I really enjoyed it. I felt pretty good, battling hard all the way through to beat Jenn O’Connor and Lilly Mathews. The single track was good fun although a bit more technical stuff would have been nice! I was happy to finish in 8th place ahead of some experienced riders and not too far off the winners."

Results are here and a report on the Irish exploits at www.irishcycling.com too.

Ballinrobe 2 Day

Club Capitan, Niall Dwyer reports:

"One hundred and one riders across all categories signed on for last weekends testing Ballinrobe 2 day stage race. Stage one was a tough 90km circuit taking in two sprint primes and five KOH primes. The Combined C, Vet, Junior and ladies bunch were give a 5 minute handicap over the B bunch who were given a further 3 minute head start over the A bunch.

Coming over the final climb the C pack still held a 1 minute lead. The climb proved too tough for most with the bunch splitting in two with 16 riders escaping up the road thankfully I had the legs to make the split. Good work from South Dublin, UCD and West Clare, meant that we managed to stay away and finish the stage 35 seconds ahead of the main bunch. Unfortunately my sprint let me down and I finished in 16th place. Ciaran came home well up in the main bunch sprint.



Stage two was the 8km time trial. Riders were sent off at 1 minute intervals according to their placing in stage one. This meant UCD were off among the last few riders. The absence of the experienced tester Colm Cassidy meant that the TT was won by Mark Dowling from engrave.ie in a time of 9:17. Ciaran finished in a time 11:02 and Niall with 10.58.

Sunday afternoon's stage 3 was a 2 lap circuit adding up to 85km of racing. Taking in two KOH primes and a further two sprint primes. The handicap was reduced in an attempt to allow the A and B riders bridge the gap and make the race more competitive. Despite the handicap reduction the C bunch were successful in holding off the chasing riders. Niall placed just outside the top 20 in an aggressive sprint finish with Ciaran finishing 15 seconds back in the combined A, B bunch. The overall winner was former Meath inter county footballer Colm Laverty the points jersey was won by local veteran Gerard Hack with the mountains jersey going to South Dublin’s Nick Cosgrave."

Picture courtesy of www.picsure.ie.

UCD Club Championships

A beautiful night followed a terrible morning of rain and general dullness. The club championships were a interesting affair with riders racing against their teammates not the other riders so with only 4 UCD riders racing it was a strange experience.

Ciaran, Ben, Niall and Anto raced and the group split on a whopper of a climb with Ciaran and Anto at the front of it and Niall and Ben at the back of it.

During the race Anto made many attacks to try and cross the line first in a group of about 20 riders mostly from Lucan with some Usher and Orwell in there too. The pace was steady but fast on the short climbs and as expected it came down to a sprint and Anto came strong at the end coming about 5th and half a wheel ahead of Ciaran. It was well deserved as Anto was constantly trying to get away on his own or with one other.

The main group came through about one minute down and the skipper came flying in well up the front out sprinting many of them with Ben following close behind. A good race on the toughest course so far in the club league. The points have now been adjusted in the league table with Ciaran in 24th and Ben in 28th overall. Anthony the new club champion is lying in 146th place.

Women's National Champs RR

Louise Moriatry reports from the Road Race National Champs:

"I rode my first race of the season Saturday 27th June, with little training in the legs (due to a hectic final year of architecture and an untimely broken wrist). 40 girls lined out in the sunshine in Dunboyne for the 84km National Championship road race with 6 small hills.

There were lots of attacks, but the large bunch and the up and down nature of the course meant that it was difficult to get free and stay free. This, incidently, was fine by me. I went with a number of attacks (perhaps not very intelligent given my lack of fitness!), and was able to recover from those efforts because the average speed wasn't fast. We even had time for a fifteen minute tea break in the middle of the race when we were stopped to allow the faster-moving vets race ride by us!

On the last hill I cramped really badly. Not just a calf muscle, but all of my leg muscles decided to go on strike. A combination of the heat and lack of training I guess. I drank as much as I could, but struggled to keep pedalling and definitely couldn't put any pressure on. The finish was made for me - straight road, bunch sprint - but sure I couldn't even get out of the saddle! Some other riders were watching me and Siobhan even tried to box me in, which was quite funny since I knew they were looking at the wrong person. I was afraid to get out of the saddle and sprint as my legs were locking up and if I fell off it would cause mayhem, so I rolled in in 9th place. Not bad with no training!

Next up is the International Track Gran Prix (July 11th) and the National Track Championships (July 17-19th), then I'll try to get fit enough for the National time trial championships and Ras na mBan in September."

Pictures can be seen here

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.

Women's Racing Update In Brief

Great result for Niamh: 5th in Boot Inn League race

UCD Club Secretary Niamh Stephens produced her best result of the season in finishing 5th against strong opposition in Round 2 of the Boot Inn League on Wednesday 22nd of April. The race was hosted by the Irish Road Club and was won by Orwell Wheeler's Michelle Geoghegan. Niamh was 11th in the 10 mile time trial the previous week. Round 3 takes place on the same circuit on Wednesday 29th at 7pm.

Club members – regardless of experience – who are interested in sampling a league race should contact Niamh at niamhstephens6 [at] gmail [dot] com for further details. There are four remaining races in this league series.


Cait completes international race despite fractured collarbone

UCD’s Cait Elliott crashed in a professional/ amateur race in Switzerland and fractured her collarbone. Remarkably she still managed to complete 2 more laps after her crash and finish the race in 20th position. Her race report is available on the blog.


Scholarship student in road traffic accident

UCD Sports Scholarship student, Louise Moriarty was knocked off her bike by a careless driver while commuting to UCD for lectures on the morning of Friday 17th of April despite her being in the relative safety of a cycle lane. Due to the continuous discomfort of her wrist, she got an x-ray on Tuesday 21st to discover that it was broken resulting in her leaving the hospital in a cast.

Boot Inn Women's League Rnd #1

Round one of the six race Boot Inn League was held on Wednesday this week with Niamh Stephens competing as the first U.C.D.C.C. lady in open racing on Irish soil this season. Conditions were tough for a Time Trial, but Niamh put in a respectable time.


The league continues every Wednesday (bar Ras week) until May and is a great way for ladies to get into racing, with coaching on hand next week and handicapped starts. A full report is up on irishcycling.com. Photo copyright Brendan Cullenton.

Des Hanlon Memorial Classic Race Report

The Des Hanlon Memorial Classic Road Race was hosted by Carlow road cycling club on Sunday, 29th March 2009. A large UCD CC contingent was divided amongst the three races on offer: Anthony Walsh raced the 145km Des Hanlon Memorial, Colin Peirce rode the 103km combined race and Ciaran O Conluain, Fiachra Rowan, Brian Sugrue, Jevon Newman, Niall Dwyer and Ben Arent raced the 62km course.

In the 62km race, an experienced veteran rider established an early lead and broke free of the bunch. Despite the best efforts of UCD riders to close the gap, other riders failed to help in the chase and the race was now on for second place. The first major split of the bunch occurred at the steep climb leaving the main Castlecomer road. After some undulating terrain, the group came together again temporarily before fracturing once more. Brian, Fiachra and Ciaran worked hard to drive the pace along the drag at the half-way stage. Further splits occurred where Fiachra attacked coming out of a bend. The road went up again and Ciaran got across. Both riders worked hard to open and establish a lead on the final climb of the day. With only a 20 second lead after a fast descent, 8km of flat, exposed road remained. Three chasing riders failed to pull back the two UCD riders that were sharing the work until the final 200 metres. Ciaran crossed the line to take second place. Significantly, five Cycling Ireland points were awarded and Ciaran has now been promoted to Senior 2 status. Fiachra finished third.

The weekend provided tough race conditions for all UCD riders. With only two weeks remaining before the Gorey 3-day stage race, this was welcome exercise. Racing resumes in North Dublin with the Harry Reynolds Memorial on Saturday afternoon and the Ben McKenna/Jazzer Wherity on Sunday morning.

Finally, congratulations to Ciaran O Conluain who joins Anthony Walsh in the S1/S2 bunch. Ciaran started road racing one year ago and rapidly accumulated the conditioning and skills necessary to excel in his sport. He has set an example that we should all be eager to follow.

Rás Luimní Classic #1

No less than 150 riders signed on for the combined race at South Liberties GAA club on the outskirts of Limerick city last Sunday. Among them, one UCD rider: Niall Dwyer. His report follows:

The race consisted of four laps of a fast flat 23km circuit. After finishing poorly in Dundalk I was determined to ride well. The race stared at a frantic pace, early on I found myself toward the back of the bunch struggling for dear life. I realised if I didn't move up the bunch now my day was over. I was lucky enough to find a pace line behind the lead motorbike and move slowly up the bunch.

By the start of lap two a group of about ten or fifteen riders had gone clear. By lap three their lead had increased to over two minutes. It was a case of now or never for the main bunch, Martin O'Loughlin gathered his troops and the chase was on. The break must have split at some point resulting in the majority being caught before the start of the final lap. With only six riders managing to stay clear and 18 prizes on overall there was still something to fight for.

With about ten kilometres to go I began to work my way up to the front of the bunch. I was in unfamiliar territory but I liked it. With only three or four riders making any efforts at the front it was clear it was going to be a sprint for 7th place. I decided to make a go for it at the 3km sign. I attacked but my efforts were short lived and I was reeled in very quickly. One km to go I was completely cooked and watched as the heavies powered up for the sprint. Rolling in at the back of the bunch I was pleased with my days work but disappointed that my lack of experience had let me down. 'Til next week DES HANLON.

Niall can be seen putting the club on the map in the gallery of irishcycling.com.

Traders Cup - Dundalk

The highest turnout of the year saw Niall (the skipper), Anto, Ciaran, Colin, Fiachra, and Ben turn up in Dundalk to race. The race was open and handicapped with the C pack starting 4 min. behind the juniors and 4 min. ahead of Bs. The A riders caught Anto's group early on, they had slowed to a crawl waiting for them. This meant that by the time we had caught the Juniors, about lap 3 of 12, we had opened up the gap on the chasing A/B riders. The C and Junior pack stayed together at a steady pace but the good lads of the A/B group split after many attacks and started chasing us down.

With about 3 laps to go we were caught by about 20 riders some of whom came straight through us with Fiachra managing to join the back of the break but at the front it split again with about 8 top riders getting away and keeping a 40sec gap till the end. Fiachra rode especially well after coming back from the break he stayed riding at the front and contested the sprint. With only one unplaced C prize the organisers were chasing in and making it very difficult to get anything.

The skipper rode his best race in the UCD colours riding at the front until about 2 laps to go. Anto rode well in the chasing group (groupetto) and Colin and Ben used the race for training purposes.

A good start to the racing but still no prizes. You cant expect perfection, all you can expect is progress.

Club Hill Climb Champs

The results of the H.C. Championships are as follows:

Ciaran 9:04
Fiachra 9:19
Colin 9:33
Jevon 9:46
Ben 9:51

The weather was lovely if not slightly windy. Sadly the club captain was saving himself for the rigours of Sunday's race and Anto had his own training plan to follow so the 5 riders rode the course at 1 min. intervals without a hitch! All riders posted what were good times and closely bunched with no one catching anyone on the day.

The Howth record holder Kevin Donagher who will be driving the team car in Gorey inspired the riders and also helped with the timekeeping. Chapeau!

A 2nd H.C. race will be run in July on the same course.

UCD Time Trial 2009, part deux

The second club time trial was held on the 14th of February. Organised to help members view their training improvements and pit themselves against eachother. The first TT had been held on the 10th of January allowing a full month of training in between.




Fiachra Rowan remains the victor in the 2nd club TT. Weather much more favourable than for the last one. Thanks to Mil for coming out and recording the times.

Positions:

1. Fiachra Rowan 24:10
2. Anthony Walsh 24:33
3. Ciarán Ó Conluain 26:09
4. Niall Dwyer 26:35
5. Brendan Dalton 27:20
6. Niamh Stephens 31:16
7. Fiachra O'Loughlin 32:05

Results of TT1 below. Improvements for all.

Positions:

1. Fiachra Rowan 28:23
2. Colin Pierce 29:51
3. Ciarán Ó Conluain 30:33
4. Niall Dwyer 31:16
5. Ben Arent 33:11
6. Niamh Stephens 35:21

More photos from TT 2 can be found here.

Recent Successes for Louise Moriarty

In the road national championships held at the end of June, Louise Moriarty took silver in the time trial and bronze in the road race.



She then went on to achieve gold in the 500m, 3km pursuit and scratch races in the track national championships which were held last weekend, the 26th and 27th July.

More info here on womenscycling.ie

In the Tour de Bretagne (July 17th-20th) she finished 34th overall. The competition was much tougher than previous years (due to it being Olympic year - e.g. 20 teams, i.e. 120 riders where last year there were only 12 teams, i.e. 72 riders). Her best result was in the time trial, where she finished 20th and within 10% of the winner's time, which is part of the selection criteria for the world championships time trial.

Full results here on cyclingnews.com

Weekends Racing

First up, Oisín Boydell. Having just finished the K-Capital Cup series as the 1st placed Expert, he turned out for the of the opening round of the XC NPS with a lot to live up to. The race was held in Ballinastoe by Sorrento and the trail centre provided a surprisingly exciting course. Stiff competition was provided by Oisín Fitzgerald of MAD, who lead at times but lost out to Boydell in the end by a narrow gap of 10 seconds. Hopes are high that Boydell will be able to dominate the NPS as he did the K-Cup. Rob Higgins also raced, improving marginally previous results but struggling to escape the middle ground of Sports.



Rory Berine had very good form at the second round of the DH NPS. The race was held on Carrig Mountain by FLOW Racing, who built an excellent new course for the race. Early Rain made the course inconsistent and treacherous, being mostly wet on Saturday and then dusty-dry in parts on Sunday. Rory got held up on his first run and crashed as a result. His final run was clean however and he took second place in the Senior Category, building well on a 7th position in the first round earlier in the month.



On the road we had a gang of keen racers attending the Stamullen GP. Ciaran O Conluain and Anthony Walsh got great results, sprinting against each other to finish 4th and 5th in the Senior C race. Anthony made a break from the start of the race but lost his minute gap as the first climb began. Then on the second climb Ciaran and Anthony moved to the head as the bunch split, but it regrouped as the finish line neared with the pace slowing before a group sprint. 4th, 5th and 6th were judged by photo with the UCD riders beating Paul Bracken of South East CC by a hair. Not one to take it easy, Anthony also attended the Money Nolan Memorial on Saturday and finished well in a mixed category race. He is now upgraded to Senior B, hopefully Ciaran will be following soon.




More racing this weekend with the Corkman 3 Day and a Wicklow Triathlon Time Trial on the road. Off road there is XC round 2 in Carlingford and DH round 3 in Cork off the road. Good luck to all.

photos courtesy of Marta, Aido T and irishcycling.com

Ladies Team Success

UCD ladies team had a successful All-Ireland Inter-varsity Road Championship on the 9th of March which consisted of a 35km road race in the Phoenix Park and a 8km time trial on the Boot Inn circuit. A four strong ladies team consisting of Team Captain, Louise Moriarty, Niamh Stephens, Grainne Finn and newcomer Mairéad Nic Gabhann flew the UCD flag in search of retaining the title they captured in Belfast last year. Louise took the prime on the second lap and stayed away to claim a highly impressive solo victory. Both Niamh and Gráinne had top 10 finishes crossing the line in 6th and 8th place respectively. Mairéad finished at the rear of the group.



Louise Moriarty created history by being the first lady to retain an inter-varsity crown. Club Secretary Niamh Stephens narrowly missed out on a podium spot while the ever improving Gráinne Finn finished a very creditable 6th. Mairéad Nic Gabhann's fine time trial performance moved her up to 11th in the overall standing and she along with her team mates had plenty of reason to celebrate winning the 'varsities for yet another year.

Tasmanian delight as Moriarty picks up more UCI ranking points

UCD Cycling Club’s ‘Rider of the Year’, Louise Moriarty, rode a tactically great race to claim yet another victory in her quest for Beijing qualification. Buoyed by her recent win in Melbourne, she contested a highly competitive Points race, which was part of the Devonport Carnival 2-day race series in Tasmania on 30th December. Of the five sprints in the race, each had a different winner which only highlighted the quality in depth of the women's field assembled.



Louise won the tightly contested second sprint from Australian rider Laura McCaughey, who had earlier won the women’s Scratch race. However, it was Louise’s tally of lower placings that ultimately saw her edge out McCaughey for the top honour. Local favourite, Amy Cure, winner of the third sprint, completed the podium places.

Photo ©: Mark Gunter

DH and Cyclocross Race Results

The final race of the 2007 NPS season was held in White Horse, Co. Waterford weekend before last. Organising club: 021 Racing put on a very professional show with TAG Heuer timing provided by NACC Events. UCD was represented by Rory Beirne in the Senoir Category, racing his 5th NPS this year. Luck wasn't on his side however, crashing in his first run and puncturing in his second. Despite this he picked up a few points and was placed 14th. A disappointing result given that he was flying on practice runs and could easily have won his category.





Overall, having 5 finishes (out of a maximum of 6) contributing to his league score, Rory placed an excellent 5th in the 2007 NPS, against a field of about 70 competitors. A lot of time and effort goes into attending this many races and it is a great achievement to place so highly. There is no doubt that he is in each race to win. Winter League awaits!

Results for the final round and for the overall series.
Photos copyright Adrian Ciesielski.

The same weekend, but at a slightly flatter venue, the third race of the Cyclocross season was held. The first of the races near Dublin. IMBRC hosted the event at a regular venue for them: Tymon Park, Tallaght. Here, a new rider for the club, Bastian Matthias competed in his first race for UCD and first in Ireland. Donning a classic UCD jersey, he raced to 21st position, finishing square in the middle of the field. A good place to start for someone just returning to racing.




Race results.

More success for UCD Ladies

In what has already been a very successful season for the UCD ladies, Niamh Stephens and Ingrid Owens have added their names to the list of honours.

Niamh won her first race in Round 6 of the Boot Inn in Dublin. She just managed to hold off the scratch group and outsprinted breakaway companion Amanda Corey to take the win.


Ingrid had success at the Murphy & Gunn International Trophy on the track. She came 3rd in the Ladies 6k Scratch race and was named best newcomer at the meet.

Louise Moriarty continued her impressive season with 8th place in the Tour de Bretagne Féminin UCI 2.2 ranked race. Louise is racing internationally with the Global Racing Team/WinningSolutions during the summer

More Big Wins for Louise

Congratulations are in order for Louise Moriarty after a successful weekend of National Championship racing. In the closest of all the Time Trial events Louise defended her title against Jenny Fay (Rapha Condor), winning by a five seconds margin while Heather Wilson (Maryland) trailed by just two more seconds.



On the Sunday, competing in the Road Champs Louise secured 3rd place from a sprint finish against Julie O’Hagan (Rapha Condor) and Heather Wilson (Maryland Wheelers). Siobhan Dervan (Lotto – Belisol) took 1st. After the weekend, Louise had this to say:

"It was really nice to get the win in the time trial. I was very surprised to have been in front of Siobhan in the time trial, given what happened in the road race."

"Today (edit: in the road race), I think the strongest two people came out in front of me", she said graciously. "Siobhan was climbing the strongest of everyone, and Rapha Condor had it sewn up with three in the initial break. I guess they worked us over a bit, it was hard to get a rhythm going behind. But Jenny was very strong as well, they fully deserved it."

Her focus now moves to the Track where she will race in Italy on the 4th of July and the at the European Track CHampionships on the 11th and 12th.

Louise Wins in Belgium

A report from Louise Moriarty (published on www.irishcycling.com) following her win in Belgium:

"On Sunday I rode a kermesse here in Belgium. It was a very important race for my team, Global Racing Team, as it was the Tielt-Winge GP, Tielt-Winge being the village where the team house is. For most of the race things were looking good for Global, as our team leader, Helen Wyman, was away in a break with Siobhan Dervan for about 50km. They rode really well, picking up nearly all the primes and looking like taking the win too. But, with about 8km to go, the break was brought back. In the final kilometers, as we were preparing to lead our sprinter out for the bunch sprint, I ended up in a 3-person break, from which I took the sprint for the win. Great for the team, and a great showing from the Irish girls."



Louise Moriarty rides in Ireland for UCD and in international races for the British registered Global Racing Team, which has an Irish sponsor in Scott McDonald's Winning Solutions. Global Racing Team has also forged a link with the Women's Commission, in an arrangement where Irish riders can go ride and race for periods of time with the team, in order to sample international racing and the life of a professional cyclist.

TIELT WINGE GP Results:
Belgium
Sunday 17th June
87km (14x6.2km)

starters: 78

1. MORIARTY LOUISE GLOBAL RACING TEAM 02:19:00
2. DU TOIT yolande Lotto-Belisol Ladiesteam
3. KONINKX Lieve 2MEGA - SAECO HEIST O/D BERG
4. BRAS Martine Lotto-Belisol Ladiesteam :10
5. BRULEE LATOYA AA DRINK CYCLING TEAM
6. HIERCKENS Corine Lotto-Belisol Ladiesteam
7. FIERS Ilse WIELERCLUB OOSTENDE NOORDZEE
8. NOBUS Anja WIELERCLUB OOSTENDE NOORDZEE
9. VAN LOON PATRICIA RSC DE ZUIDWESTHOEK
10. KOELEMEIJER Alma RSC de Zuidwesthoek

(photo from www.cyclingnews.nu)