CYCLING | Bingham takes sprint finish at round four of the Bike Station League

Cuchulainn CC’s Michael Treanor wins from clubmate Oisin O’Gradiagh, with Ardee’s Johanna Rogan in third. PICTURE: ADRIAN CRAWLEY

Round four of the Bike Station Cycling League took place on Thursday night, a 35km course starting off the M1, going to Ardee, across the link road to Dorians Pub and home through Castlebellingham for a finish at the Fane Bridge.

A mild night saw 81 riders sign on to compete and, as always, two separate races were held.

In race two, those first off in group one timed their effort to perfection and arrived at the line contesting the win with seconds to spare over the hard charging peloton, which was comprised of groups two and three as they had merged on the link road.

In the sprint, it was a Cuchulainn one-two with Michael Treanor taking the win ahead of Oisin O’Gradiagh. Ardee’s Johanna Rogan was in third place.

In race one, group six set a super fast average speed of just under 45kph for the course and swept all of those in front of them.

On the run in from Castlebellingham, a few riders, notably Ardee’s Tómas McCabe, made a bid for victory, but at such high speeds it was nigh on impossible for any rider to hold off the charging pack.

In the sprint, defending league champion Alan Bingham was victorious over Stamullen’s Gary Gorman with Ardee’s Alan Malone in third.

Next week sees the action move to the hills, with the toughest finish of the league, the long climb up Flagstaff outside Omeath.