Lakeside Wheelers to host major Irish cycle race

Sunday July 16 will be another red-letter day for local cycling club Lakeside Wheelers as they host their annual Mullingar GP race in Multyfarnham.

The club has been staging top level competitive cycling for several years and is widely recognised as one of the best promoters of cycle racing in Ireland. In 2014 Lakeside Wheelers had its biggest day by far when it hosted the Elite National Championships, a race won by the then An Post Chainreaction rider, Ryan Mullen, who now rides at pro Tour level for Bora-Hansgrohe as lead-out man for Ireland’s sprint sensation, Sam Bennett.

This year the club’s annual GP race has been upgraded to Round Six of the Cycling Ireland National Road Race Series bringing top level bike racing back to the Mullingar and Multyfarnham area. Local interest will be spread through the different categories of races on the day with members racing in all but one of the categories. However, a lot of focus will be on three former members of the club who are now plying their trade with bigger racing teams.

The O’Brien sisters, Caoimhe and Aoife, along with Aaron Wade are all products of the Lakeside Wheelers Youths academy from some years ago and now these three riders are the backbone of the Irish and international racing scene.

As recently as last week Caoimhe O’Brien, now riding with the Belgian Belco Van Eyck Sport team, rode the race of her life to claim second place in the Elite Ladies race at the National Cycling Championships in Tyrone. This was an amazing feat for the U23 rider and it gives a glimpse of what is possible for her in the future. Caoimhe is the current leader of the Cycling Ireland National Road Race Series so no doubt she will be a marked woman as she attempts to secure that standing on home roads. Aoife (Spellman-Dublin Port) also rode the Nationals in Tyrone and was not too far behind her big sister as she won bronze in the U23 category with yet another lifetime best performance.

Aaron Wade has moved to northern Spain where he rides with Club Ciclista Padrones-Cortizo and is also having a fantastic 2023 season. He is currently lying in third position in the National Road Race Series and will come to the Mullingar GP off the back of some excellent performances. In this year’s Ras Tailteann he finished eighth overall and won the White jersey for being the best U23 rider but more importantly, he played a major part on the Irish team that helped Dillon Corkery to outright victory in that extremely tough five-day race. Aaron has also had two big successes in recent weeks at the Mondello Park Racing Series and only for a mechanical at the nationals in Tyrone would have finished much higher on the overall standings. To cap it all off, these three fine athletes and ambassadors not only for Irish cycling, but for their families and home town, have now been selected to represent Ireland at the upcoming U23 and Junior European Track Championships to be held in Portugal in July.

Lakeside Wheelers will also be making a slight change to this year’s race as the club aims to pay tribute to past president, Donie Kelliher, who sadly passed away earlier this year. The day’s racing will be dedicated to Donie’s memory as not only was he a valued club member but also an avid cycling fan. Donie travelled the length and breadth of the country with his trusty camera recording images of every race and sportive and he is sadly missed.

Race organisers have invited Donie’s family to attend so it will be a poignant day but also one of celebration as Donie would have wished.

So, make it a date in your diary and come out to Multyfarnham on Sunday July 16 to cheer on some of the best cyclists on the Irish racing scene. The race route runs over a 34km circuit from Multy to Crookedwood, Castlepollard, Coole and back to Multy over the bog road.

Racing starts from Multyfarnham Community Centre at 11am and will continue until approximately 3pm.