Mark O'Callaghan on winning and the strength of Aqua Blue
Mark O'Callaghan has been runner-up several times this year but landed victory at the weekend in Kilmessan (Photo: Sean Rowe)
By Brian Canty
He was third at the Des Hanlon Memorial last Sunday week, twice a runner-up since the season started and was fourth in Carrick on Suir on St Patrick’s Day.
But on Sunday Mark O’Callaghan got the job done for Aqua Blue Academy.
The 20-year old Financial Maths student from Limerick has rarely missed a break this year.
And he has ridden selflessly for teammates – most notably for Matteo Cigala in Carrick. So Sunday really was his turn to win.
Ironically enough, Cigala was second on Sunday; O’Callaghan having enough speed to win, ensuring a memorable 1-2 for the Cork-based team.
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O’Callaghan was in the early break that went away inside the first 10km of the 133km the riders were faced with on a perfect afternoon for racing.
Also present were Dermot Trulock (Lucan CRC), Philip Lavery (Unattached) and Adam Stenson (Bikeworx).
“We drove it like f*** but the gap never went over 35 seconds for ages,” was O’Callaghan’s assessment of how things panned out.
“Eventually, after four of seven laps the gap went towards a minute so we could breathe a little.
“I got word that Sean (Lacey) and Matteo (Cigala) were en route across so I stopped helping the boys and sat on the back until the chase came across.”
That added firepower gave the escape some more strength in depth and they just tapped through thereafter.
“It was pretty damn hectic then for the last two laps with attacks going off left, right and centre," said the eventual winner.
“But we rode super as a team and shared the workload. There was no point in separating ourselves into different groups. We are stronger in numbers,” he continued.
The attacking whittled the group down but O’Callaghan and Cigala stayed together going into the sprint to make sure one of them got it.
“I've been knocking around the top spots since the start of the year so it’s great to finally get the win,” added and relieved and delighted O'Callaghan.
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