Lakeside Wheelers racing towards Mullingar GP on Sunday

All roads lead to Multyfarnham on Sunday for the Mullingar GP which, this year will see the club’s blue riband event fulfil round five of the Cycling Ireland National Road Race Series. Preparations have been ongoing for this prestigious race for the last three months so organisers are hopeful that the sun will shine and the race will run off smoothly.

There will be five races in total on the day with a new dimension being added this year in the shape of a combined U16 race for boys and girls. All races will be staged on the same 34km loop taking the riders from Multy to Crookedwood, Castlepollard, Coole and back to Multy via the bog road.

The National Road Series races will be restricted to the A1/A2/Junior (136km) and Ladies/Junior (68km) events with an A3 (102km) and A4 (68km) race also on the programme. The U16 race will be held over one lap of this challenging circuit. As usual there will be a good representation from club members across all categories. In the Ladies/Junior event both Aoife and Caoimhe O’Brien are expected to be in the country so there presence will concern all the top riders.

Both girls are on a rich vein of form of late with Caoimhe (Das-Hutchinson-Brother Uk) having finished the Elite National Championships in Limerick recently in a terrific 4th place and Aoife (Belco Van Ecyk) just one position behind her in 5th. These results saw the two lifetime members of Lakeside Wheelers take 1st and 2nd respectively in the U23 category which means Caoimhe has won the right to wear the Irish colours on her team jersey for the next twelve months. They followed this performance with more big results last week as Caoimhe finished in the top ten on a stage of the Tour of Poland while younger sister, Aoife, won the famous Stephen Roche GP in Dublin.

Youths racing makes a return to the Mullingar GP roster this year with a 34km event starting at 09.30am followed by the senior races which will commence at 11.30am. Race organisers wish to thank all members who have volunteered to help out in any way and ask marshals to sign-on at 08.30am and be in their positions on the circuit at 09.00am.

Please note, there will be no official club spins on Sunday July 7th due to the club running the Mullingar GP.

National Championships

As previously mentioned the Elite National Road Race Championships were staged in Athea, Co. Limerick on June 22nd and 23rd. Lakeside Wheelers had a sole representative in the mens race with Padraig Moran doing extremely well to complete 150km of the 161km race against some of the best professional riders in Europe. However with temperatures hitting twenty seven degrees the severe heat took its toll on him as it did on several other riders and he succumbed to cramp in the closing stages of this UCI registered race. Well done Padraig on a big step up in effort and competition.

Midland League

As the summer rolls on, so too does the Midland League (MiL) race series and next Thursday, July 4th will be the turn of Lakeside Wheelers to host its second race this year. As usual members are asked to help out if possible and to sign on for marshalling, driving and finish line duties at Wallace’s Pub in Dalystown from 18.00pm. This is the final MiL race for Lakeside Wheelers this year so there will be

refreshments served in Wallace’s after the race and all marshals, riders and other volunteers are welcome. There will be a report on current MiL standings in next week’s notes.

Sportives

Several club members are participating in some very big leisure events this week with some going to Sligo for a Gran Fondo and others heading south to do the Ring of Kerry next Sunday. There will be more news and photos from these events in the coming weeks.

Club Social

All members are invited to attend the annual club social next Sunday evening which has been held for some years now on the night of the GP. This fun evening is organised by the committee to thank members for assisting at various events such as the Tour of the Lakes, Sprocket Rocket, the MiL and of course the GP itself throughout the summer. The venue this year is Clarke’s Pub on Patrick St. so make sure you don’t miss out. Drinks will be served from 19.00pm onwards with food at 20.30pm or thereabouts. Please note, there will be no official club spins on Sunday July 7th due to the club running the Mullingar GP.