Tuesday evening Ladies racing - Corkagh Park

Peterx

Race 1 (of 10 hopefully) ran by Orla McEvoy(Bray Wheelers) went off really well this balmy summer evening in the smooth, safe, fast and fun environs of the enclosed crit circuit in Corkagh Park.
Some fairly judicious (lucky) handicapping in the B race saw the scratch group catch semi-scratch on the penultimate lap with the stage then set for a battle royale on the final lap with Naoise Sheridan(Orwell) blasting off the front on the final corner to gallop home well clear of the fast finishing Maria Mulvany(U/A) with Muirna Walsh(Lakeside) taking 3rd. For many of the ladies this was their first experience of the joys of Corkagh Park and Clare Glanville(U/A) pronounced herself stoked!

The A race had a convoluted start which essentially led to the stratch group of two riders, Roisin Kennedy(ESB) and Eve McCrystal(Garda), having to do 16 laps with the A2 and A3 ladies doing 15. Despite this fairly whopping handicap Roisin and Eve put the head down and fairly ate up the track to bridge the gap to the A2 group after 6 laps. The bigger group then chased down the A3 girls who has valiantly stayed clear until 3 laps to go. On the last lap the pace went up again and coming up the home straight it was Eve McCrystal leading in Roisin Kennedy with Ania Krol(Orwell) netting third. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgCWLcVyVqk&feature=youtu.be

Ger Ivory(Bray Wheelers) was a diligent lap counter and pebble dropper when all around him were getting distracted by the great racing on show. Aaron Raphaman(U/A) was great helping the B2 ladies for their first few laps, big tall Neil(Lucan) was commanding with the clipboard, Johnny(U/A) was focussed on the finish line video and as always we look forward to Brendan Culleton's amazing photos.

onimpulse

Really enjoyed my first ever bike race tonight! Looking forward to more Tuesday evenings...

Caroline_ie

Omnipulse ... are the girl I said I would give my old orwell jersey to?

Caroline_ie

Great stuff Peter. A3 was hard. We were just three and when the Scratch girls past I immediately saw Eve had her wrists on the handlebar, powering along the course at the front. It wasn't going to be easy to hang on. I let go a couple of laps to the finish.

Big kudos to QueensGael who managed to place out of the A3 group on her shiny new bike!

onimpulse

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Omnipulse ... are the girl I said I would give my old orwell jersey to?

Nope... Not me.

Peterx

Race two went off on Tuesday under the watchful gaze of the combined A1/2/3/4 men's cyclists as a single race (20 minutes+3 laps) with the combined B1/2/3 ladies getting about a minute on the A1/2/3 ladies group.
The B ladies combined well and were drilling out a good tempo in single file for a good few laps before ESB clad Roisin Kennedy burst clear of the others in the A group and rode across on her own and then straight through the B's and on into clear air for the win followed by Charlotte MacDonald (Orwell) and Ania Krol(Orwell)
Behind her the two groups came together and then various bits of imaginary elastic went ping as the bigger group fractured into various very interesting races within a race. Rachael Kaye-Mellor (Orwell) took the B race followed by Clare Glanville (U/A) and Muirne Walsh (Lakeside) with Clare having a great sprint finish for second B against Muirne.

Fair play to boardsie Caroline_ie for upgrading herself to A, you don'y see too many doing that!

Peterx

More great racing tonight in Corkagh Park.
~In a mini repeat of the fascinating and brilliant National Champs at the weekend (no harm dropping names!) a break of 4 got away and contested the win. A chase group of 7 or 8 battled it out for 5th and 6th.
Usher did a great job organising - thanks to Valerie, Caroline and Gillian.

Once I work out what my password was I'll edit this post to add some video of the racing and two finish line videos on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/user/OFarrellPeter?feature=watch

Special mention to the new ladies out tonight, Una May had great fun and a lady who is only cycling for 4 weeks also completed the course. There is no excuse for any women thinking of taking the plunge when a 4 week old woman can get around!
GET OUT THERE, YOU'LL LOVE IT!!

The value of keeping a good place in the bunch will be very apparent in one of the videos

Same time next week, organised by Henry J Lyons...