Stephen Halpin is keen to put a difficult season behind him and tackle next year hunting for victories again (Amy-Norah Farrell)
By Brian Canty
It’s a measure of how high the standard of racing in Ireland is right now that a rider like Stephen Halpin has no results of note from the year.
A prolific underage rider who rode for Ireland on several occasions, the Skerries man found the going tough this season and his year ended prematurely when he got sick in mid summer.
“My 2014 wasn’t great, I had decent form at the start of the year and did an average An Post Rás. My form was very good in Rás Mumhan but it just didn’t work out for me.
"I fell pretty ill between June and August so I was off the bike completely then, so that was the end of the year for me,” he said.
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His illness aside, he said the fixture congestion at the start of the year followed by a dearth of racing in the final months of the season was something that Cycling Ireland needed to resolve.
“I would love to see the racing going on until later in the year. There might be five races in one day in March and then nothing on in September when the weather is still great.”
Halpin, centre, rode the Rás with Aidan Crowley's VeloRevolution this year but his own BikeWorx squad will be entering a team in the Rás next year (Photo: George Doyle)
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Though he was very strong in the Mondello Park racing series, never being outside the top five, the 26-year-old Bikeworx-Celbridge rider said that was as good as it got.
“I suppose if I didn’t get sick things might have been different but you just have to move on and concentrate on next year.
“I’m staying with Bikeworx again, they looked after me very well this year and everything looks great for next year with plans for a Rás team.”
Now working full-time in the capital for Vodafone, Halpin says there’s a few things he’d like to do next year, and they both involve a town he’s come to know very well.
“The crit in the Suir Valley is one I’d love (to win) because there is a memorial trophy for the winner in honour of my girlfriend’s father Joe,” he said.
“Or the Carrick Cup again would be great to win. I love Carrick, it’s almost a second home at this stage and it’s a race which I feel suits me very well.”
Halpin's BikeWorx team sponsors the Mondello Series and while he did well in that this year, he is capable of much more (Photo: Amy Norah Farrell)
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