The National Youth Cycling Championships were held in Kanturk over the weekend and the MCTC team all put in great performances in very testing conditions.
On Saturday morning there was an 8km time trial. All our riders - Matthew and Pearse Broderick, Luke and Adam O'Brien, Claude Mahony and Alanna Drennan took on the challenge, bravely cycling straight into a very strong headwind and most of them had accompanying heavy rain.
The afternoon race was a criterium, again for the earlier riders, in horrendous conditions.
Matthew, Pierce, Luke and Adam all riding in their first Nationals put in great efforts and gained valuable experience.
Claude having cycled strongly throughout the race and looking comfortable in the front bunch, was very unfortunate to be brought down on the very last lap by another rider crossing over right in front of him.
He had a heavy fall and was unable to continue the race which was a great pity as he was in contention for a medal.
In the last race of the afternoon Alanna worked hard to stay with the lead group all the way until the last 200m when she was dropped.
Back for more action today – the road race took place on various different routes for the different age groups, but each route was challenging.
Matthew and Pearse were first off and both cycled well in serious competition and got back safely which was the main thing.
We were relieved to see Claude back in the saddle and his bike repaired! He was very sore after yesterday's fall and did really well to stay with the group until the finish.
Again, after a long morning waiting around, Alanna cycled in her road race.
The numbers of girls competing is growing and the standard is getting higher year on year, which is good news for girls' cycling.
Alanna had a great ride to finish in 8th place in a sprint finish. Getting caught on the outside on a very narrow road at the finish may have cost her a place or two, but it's all good experience. Congratulations to all of them!
On behalf of all the juveniles I would like to express a huge thank you to Tim Mahony for giving up so much of his valuable time to coordinate and help with training and Mick Mahony for his great contribution as coach too, particularly in recent weeks coming up to the championships. Also, many thanks to the parents who are so supportive of juvenile cycling in the club and to the committee for their support.
*Note from Committee
Congratulations to our our Youth Cyclists we as a club are very proud of you.
We will post some pics when we get some.
A few photos from today's 2016 & 10th ever Sean Kelly. Conditions weren't ideal and as always it's a tough day in the saddle, Mahon Falls final kick was closed due to poor conditions, bad accident on decent from Powers the pot probably prompted this. We had one man Derry Cadogan retire due to mechanical on Tickoner, everyone else made back in one piece. Other members not shown were out but alas we didn't get any photos. Well Done to David White, Lloyd Weymouth, Brendan Walsh ,Tony Fitzgerald, Garry Harnett, Jason Bane, John Lynch, Michael O'Shea, Derry Cadogan and Pat Burke.
