CYCLING | Cuchulainn Cycling team fares well at Rás Mumhan in Kerry

Cuchulainn Cycling Club had a five-man team competing at the Four-Day International Rás Mumhan which was held in Kerry over the Easter weekend.

Four days of long and fast racing saw the 185 strong field tackle a number of Kerry’s toughest climbs, with the ascent of Coomanaspic on day three especially demanding.

The Cuchulainn team gave a good account of themselves, with their highest placed rider Liam Dolan finishing up in 18th overall.

Unfortunately, Tomas McCabe was forced to withdraw on stage three due to knee issues. Alan Grey, Ray O’Shaughnessy and John Fitzpatrick made up the rest of the team.

At home, round two of The Bike Station Summer Cycling League took place last Thursday night with the course sending competitors out to Greenore and back.

The ‘out’ section of this course tends to be quite fast but it is the run back towards the Ballymascanlon that does the real damage. The climbs coming out of Greenore always stretch out the groups and make for extremely hard racing.

In Race One, it came down to the wire between groups four and five with the catch being made in the final few hundred meters.

Newry’s Barry Convery timed his acceleration to perfection to just pass the last two group four riders with Ardee’s David McMahon in second and Newry’s Rob Cumming in third. Group five riders dominated the rest of the top 10 placings.

The race was marred by an accident at the turnaround point when a small touch of wheels saw a number of riders come down. Fergal Cunningham and Jim Byrne bore the worst of it, with both suffering some cuts and bruises.

Race One saw Cuchulainn’s Michael Treanor and Jason Boyle just avoid being caught by group two. Treanor took the win ahead of Boyle. Jamie O’Hare, also of Cuchulainn, led home group two, taking third position in the process.