Having sucessfully completing the excellently run 10 race Comeragh CC league during the summer, a number of Barrow Wheelers went down to the prize giving nigh in Wasterford recently. Many thanks to Comeragh for hosting such a good league and a great night was had by all for the prize giving. Below are a number of photo's kindly sent on by Sinead Power. Roll on next year...
The 1798 memorial Ride finally, after much postponement, took place on Sun 11th July. Twenty members of the club took part, as well as a visitor from Belgium. It was a lovely morning and everyone enjoyed the ride, which took in local 1798 memorials, including Evoy’s Forge, the famous Ballyshannon lane, and the memorial to the battle of Horetown. Many thanks to Denis Banville, for devising the route and providing the commentary, and to Tommy Mcloughlin for providing back-up in case of casualties, of which, fortunately, there were none.
Congratulations to Jim Redmond for recently completing a series of Audax events as part of his preparation and qualification for the 2011 Paris-Brest-Paris 1200K Randonneur Event (held every 4 years and one of the most prestigious Randonneur Audax events in the world, with over 5000 participants from 28 countries).These long-distance Audax events are not races but they have a minimum and maximum finishing time, with a number of control points to be reached within strict time limits. Jim’s first challenge was the Marble City 200K, in May, from Kilkenny, which he completed with an average speed of 27 kph. Next was the REK 400K, starting at the Stephen Roche Monument in Dundrum on June 5th. This was a hilly route, on an extremely hot sunny day, and Jim finished with an average speed of 22 kph, well inside the time limit. It was then decision time for Jim, whether or not he would enter the only scheduled 600K event in Ireland this year – the Three Pass 600K starting in Bray at 6am on the 19th June. This was truly a marathon event, and completion time was between 20 hrs. 40 mins. and 40 hrs. Nothing daunted, Jim and 7 other cyclists left Upper Dargle Rd., Bray, and set off on their adventure. The first stage was a tough 400k through the Wicklow Hills and on through Counties Wexford, Carlow, Wexford and Wicklow again, and back to Bray where they had to start again on the final 200K. This final route was extremely tough, particularly at the end of a 600K, and took in, among others, the Devil’s Glen (steepest climb of the 2 days), the Wicklow Gap, and three mountain climbs in the last 70K. Jim’s total ride time for the 600k was 25 hrs. 19 mins., with an average speed of 24 kph. To complete the series Jim has to do a scheduled 300K on 14th August. We wish him every success. Then he will receive an official medal for each event from Paris, in addition to a Super Randonneur medal. The bad news is that as the Paris-Brest-Paris is not until next year, he will have to do the whole series again next year. Jim wishes to thank the members of Barrow Wheelers C.C. fore their good wishes and support, with particular reference to Paddy Somers, one of the club’s all time greats, who completed several Paris-Brest-Paris events in the 1980s and 1990s.
Tuesday May 11th saw the first round of the Altitude Comeragh CC summer League with a strong Barrow Wheelers representation. The league races are being held at the Carrolls Cross, Five Cross Roads, Newtown Circuit, comprising 3 laps (total approx. 40 kms) which proved very popular last year. The race was split into three groups with a very large A4 group (that included Mick Walsh, Brian Cullen, Dennis O’Brien, Mark Flood & Seamus Daly) which started 2 minutes before the A3 group.
The A3 group also included 5 Barrow Wheelers : Hugh Byrne, Peter O’Sullivan, John Coughlan, Greg Dempsey & Dave Whitty.
A small A1 / A2 group started a further 2 minutes after the A3s.
The A3s caught the A4s just after the start of the second lap despite the A4s averaging almost 38kmh for the first lap with the pace of the combined group lapping at just under 40kmh. on lap 2.
The decisive break came in the second half of lap 3 and included Greg and Hugh with Greg taking an excellent win and Hugh crossing the line in fourth. Well done to all involved for another great Barrow Wheelers performance with a special mention for those who are new to racing : Brian, Mick and Seamus.
