On Tuesday 27 July Stage 5 of the Club League was held with the third and final time trial of the league taking place, running from Oola village, around the Dunnes Stores roundabout in Tipperary Town and finishing in Oola village again. Ten competitors started at one minute intervals and raced the 16km (10 miles) course solo, against the clock. The speed was high on the outward journey but with a strong headwind on the homeward leg testing everybody conditions were far from ideal. The winning time was set by Dermot Radford at 24.04 with Rory Devitt just eleven seconds back at 24.15 and in third place was Dinny Lynch. Although conditions were not favourable for quick times, the benefits of the five league stages ran to date were evident as most riders recorded their best time for the time trial series. Individual markers were laid for next year's time trials where club members will hope to come back stronger with a good winter training programme behind them.
On Tuesday, 20 July, Stage 4 of the club league took place which saw 15 cyclists race a distance of 26 km from the outskirts of Tipperary Town through Galbally and Lisvernane, finishing at the top of the Christ the King climb. The cyclists were split into three groups at the start with Group 1 starting one minute ahead of Group 2, which in turn started three minutes ahead of Group 3. The race saw Group 3 working very effectively together and catching the leading groups in Lisvernane because of the very fast pace being driven by the group, at an average speed of 38.5 km/hr. The 2.7 km climb, covering 166 vertical metres to the finish line, split the group quickly and it was Rory Devitt that pushed the pace hard to build a clear lead and be the first club member over the line, claiming maximum points for Stage 4 of the league. Rory was followed by Pat Ryan in second palce, Dermot Radford in third, Seamus Breen in fourth and J.P. Dilain in fifth.         Dick Walsh, a member of the Tipperary Wheelers, is cycling solo from Mizen Head to Malin Head in aid of the Abbey India Project. Dick began his fundraising cycle on 22 July and is due to complete his journey on 28 July, covering 602 Km in seven days. On Saturday 24 July his journey took him through Tipperary Town and a number of club members cycled out to meet Dick and travel with him through the town. Follow Dick's daily updates at http://irelandheadtohead.weebly.com About the Abbey India Project The Abbey India Project is a Third World Immersion programme of the Abbey CBS, Tipperary where students and teachers travel to assist in the work of Providence School for a period of up to three weeks. The input is hugely beneficial for the children of Providence and also an enriching experience for the Abbey students and teachers. Learn more about the Abbey India Project at http://www.abbeyindia.com/ Dermot Radford the man in the yellow jersey in our tippwheelers league is on fire this week. Dermot represented the club in the Donal Crowly/Kay Stratton memorial race in Blarney and finished again in 5th place getting himself and the club in the prizes.  In the Photo is Martin Hickey, Jimmy Halley, Big John McCormack, Keith Kelly, Jim Kissane and Gerry Ryan all took on the ring of Kerry this week. Below is a report on the cycle from one of our athletes At around 8:00 on Saturday morning 3 July we met at the starting point at Killarney race course with a view to cycling the Ring of Kerry. Although the sky was a little overcast we were very hopeful of a fine day. Participants had been setting off since 6:00 so there were many cyclists on the road ahead of us. So being fully hydrated (nearly afraid to lean over the handlebars for fear some fluid may fall out) we took off. The first leg was relatively flat and the pace was good. Many other cycling clubs were represented on the tour and we were happy to fall in with a group of about 50 others riders that were setting a good pace. First stop was 60K into the event, Caherciveen. We some stopped to refuel, bananas, sandwiches….and a fivers worth of diesel for Jimmy Halley. Shortly after we set out again, next stop planned for Sneem. With “Big Mac” creating the slip stream we got there in good time with a very difficult climb up through Caherdaniel. More water for us…………Jimmy didn’t need any diesel this time, we headed for the next stop in Kenmare. With every man for himself, we got split up but all arrived safely in Kenmare, last top up before the dreaded “Molls Gap”. Away we went to head for the top, in reality it wasn’t as hard as the first major climb. Then with the wind in our backs and the rain in our faces we freewheeled down to Killarney……………180K……….all over!. It was a great day that was very well organised. Many cyclist I met back at the racecourse spoke of taking hack-saws to their bikes after the event………….I’m sure the Tipp Wheelers will live to fight another day. | SHOUTBOXCategoriesAll   ArchivesMay 2013 |
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