Local cyclists fare well at Drogheda Wheelers races

Navan's Pat Doocey put in an impressive performance in the A4 category at the Peter Bidwell Memorial race on Saturday around the Donore and Platin route used by the promoting club, Drogheda Wheelers. Navan's Simon O'Dea also finished strongly after his recent first place A3 position at Balbriggan while another Navan cyclist Declan Byrne also put in a strong performance. The race was held in the memory of the late Peter Bidwell who was chairman of Drogheda Wheelers at the time of his untimely death at a young age. At the end of this short fast race, it was Philip Lavery, who competes with the Node 4 Giordana CC, who took the spoils winning by a margin of 36 seconds from Gary Gorman (Stamullen M Donnelly) who put in a powerful sprint for second place. The winner's brother Thomas Lavery finished in third place and Chris Reilly (Bohermeen) finished seventh. Javan Nulty (DID Dunboyne) came home first Senior A2 rider and in the A3 section, Conor Campbell from promoting Drogheda Wheelers finished second with his younger brother and very bright prospect, Ciaran Campbell winning the junior event, with second place going to Aidan Wall from Navan Road Club. The race attracted an entry of 109 riders and was on a short handicap basis. Among the groups catered for included youths, u-12, u-14 and u-16 riders with the format for those races a double stage on Saturday with the final stage on Sunday. In the general Rás na n"g classification after the three-stages, out of all these riders the best placed local was Luke Coll (Stamullen M Donnelly) in the u-12 event who finished fourth. The winner in this age group was Eoin Birchill (Fermoy) while Jake Gray (East Tyrone) took top place in the u-14 category. The u-16 winner was Mark Downey (Banbridge). Navan's Liam Hanley, Nicky Murtagh, Dominic Lealan and Siobhan Murtagh were others to feature in the various under-age categories. On Sunday an enormous field of riders lined up for the start of the Coombes/Connor Memorial races. In the Senior S1-S2 race for the Coombes/Connor Memorial Cup over a distance of 72 miles, Adam Armstrong (Eurocycles) finished alone to claim victory, a mere three-seconds ahead of Waterford rider Robin Kelly. An Post/Sean Kelly professionals Conor McConvey and Ronan McLoughlin were in third and fourth places respectively. In the A2 race, Nulty finished second and John Kenny (Navan) secured fifth place. In the senior A3 race, held over five laps of the same course, 17-year old Paul Dargle (Stamullen M Donnelly) put in a tremendous performance and was sixth across the line. This race was won by Aaron O'Donoghue (unattached). In the junior (u-18) section, Navan cyclist Aidan Wall out-sprinted Ciaran O'Connell (Stamullen M Donnelly) to claim victory to cap a super performance. In the senior A4 race, Paddy Delaney from the promoting Drogheda Wheelers CC, who just started his racing career last year at the Mark Mullen Memorial League in Drogheda, exceeded his own expectations when he sprinted home in fourth place. Navan's Niall Doggett was well placed. Murtagh continued her good form on Sunday in the u-16 event and in the u-12 section Hanley secured seventh position overall. Next weekend's races include the John Beggs Memorial at Dromore, Co Down on Saturday and also the first open race to be held at the newly built cycling track at Corkagh Park, close to Newlands Cross, Dublin,11.0. On Sunday the Noel Hammond Memorial race is scheduled for Roundwood, Co Wicklow, 11.0.