Matthew Sparrow’s name has been cropping up again and again in results in recent years and yesterday he took his biggest result; victory at the Lacey Cup in Co Kerry.
The Dan Morrissey-MIG-Pactimo rider led home a team 1-2,
with Conor Hennebry in 2nd place.
That win came a decade after Sean Lacey won the same race
for the team. It has raced in a number of iterations in the 10 years since
Lacey’s triumph but is still the same racing team, with Tim Barry at the helm.
Sparrow told stickybottle when Cathal Purcell took off in
the closing stages yesterday, just before the final sprint, he thought the
victory had slipped through his fingers.
But as the sprint was into a headwind, those who went
early paid the price and the riders with the nerve to leave it late were at the
front when the chequered flag was reached.
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Sparrow said he got onto the wheel of Conor Kissane, the
Killarney rider who won the race last year, and that proved to be the perfect
spot.
The eventual winner pulled the trigger late and timed it perfectly to win; starting his season on the best possible footing.
“In the final
kilometre Cathal Purcell carried some speed and attacked and I felt that he had the race won,” Sparrow
admitted.
“I sat in
for the sprint, hoping it would come
back. I was on Conor Kissane’s wheel and the sprint was led out quite
early.
“But I
bided my time waiting for Kissane to
go. I stayed in his slipstream until I was sure I had the kick to come
around. It was about timing with the long straight and headwind.
“It’s great that
the team got a 1-2 with Conor Hennebry capping off a very strong opening weekend for the team,” he added in
reference to Charlie Prendergast winning the Mick Lally in Co Meath on Saturday.
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“Personally
I’m delighted to have won the Lacey cup. This was the first race I ever did
back in 2016,” explained Sparrow.
“And every
year I’ve been in the results but I was finally able to pull off the win. It’s
great to be on the trophy as it’s been won by some great riders in the past.
“Having a win so early gives me confidence for the coming races and especially with an eye on performing well in Rás Mumhan this year,” he added of the Easter stage race he gained national team selection for last year.
While he left it
late and took the victory, Sparrow said the pace was really on at points in the
race after a cagey start.
On one section of
the course he said he got clear with Paul Kennedy and they averaged over 57km
per hour for five minutes before settling in for a sustain period at around
55km per hour with a tailwind.
Sparrow pulled clear yesterday on the final climb, Slieve Mish; getting away in a group of about 10 before the ascent.
When the road went up that front group was trimmed back, with Sparrow pulling away alongside Stephen Gillman (O’Leary Stone Kanturk) and Mark Shannon (Burren CC) before being joined by others before the top.
However, once the
climb was completed that front group swelled to about 15 on the run in to the
finish, with all of the placings coming from that group.
After the
Sparrow-Hennebry 1-2, last year’s winner Kissane took 3rd with rowing Olympian
turned top domestic rider Cathal Moynihan of promoting club Tralee Manor
West BC in 4th.
The aforementioned Mark Shannon (Burren CC) was next, in
5th, with Irish junior champion Tom Moriarty and Stephen Gillman, both of O’Leary
Stone Kanturk, in 6th and 7th places.
Having been on the attack earlier, Paul Kennedy (Spellman
Dublin Port) was 8th, with Colm Sheahan (Blarney CC) and Liam Crowley (O’Leary
Stone Kanturk) taking 9th and 10th respectively.
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