Sean Hargan drives the pace in the early part of yesterday's national masters 60 title race in Kilcullen. The Phoenix CC man escaped on the first of two laps and wasn't seen again before the finish. (Picture: Sean Rowe)
By Brian Canty
Sean Hargan savoured his biggest ever road race victory yesterday when he captured the gold medal in the national masters 60 race after a stunning performance in Kilcullen, Co. Kildare.
The Phoenix CC rider, who turns 65 next month, attacked the field on the first of two 26-kilometre laps and soloed to the finish, holding a gap of around 30 seconds the entire time.
And he joked that it was just training for a 50-mile time-trial he plans to do next week.
“I was surprised I got away, it happened on a rare place,” he said.
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“I made a push going up the village and when I got to the descent the bunch just pulled back so I decided to have a go and fortunately it worked out for me.”
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That was halfway through the first lap and his margin ebbed and flowed thereafter.
“The biggest gap I had was 30 seconds and they were coming back to me, they had it at 20 seconds but it went up again. I was very fortunate to hold out.
“I do the time-trials so I can do a bit of hurt.
“I’m doing a 50-mile TT next week so I said if they caught me at least I’d have some training done trying to stay away!”
Hargan has national time-trial titles to his name but this, he said, is his biggest ever road win.
“It’s really special, I was up against good riders in that group, Sean McIlroy (Panduit Carrick Wheelers) did some fierce work at the start and Terry Ferris (Murphy & Gunn) tried to get away.
“I thought maybe I’d done too much but it worked out in the end.”
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