Can any stop Mark Dowling from winning back-to-back Des Hanlon Memorial titles this Sunday? The 155km event is a true test of mind and body and only the strongest come to the line to contest it. Here, riders past and present recalled their first time doing the race race in vivid and painful detail.
Mike Storan (Moda Kingdom-Endurance Sports)
“My first Des Hanlon was in 2000. I was racing with Limerick CC at the time and it was a separate A2 race.
“I hadn't a notion how to race or who to watch but I remember attacking on the Butts climb and getting across to the break of two up the road.
“Mick Mulcahy from the Dan Morrissey team - who won the opening stage of the Tour of Ulster the following month and Simon Dennehy from Kanturk CC were there.
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“I blew up on the long 10-mile flat run-in to the finish and was caught by a chasing group.
“Mulcahy won it. That year was all about the main race, though.
“I remember talking to my teammate Brian Quin afterwards and our races were worlds apart.
“The break in that race consisted of some of the strongest riders of that generation and probably one of the greatest teams with Carrick Cidona.
"They had Martin O’Loughlin, Brian Kenneally and Eddy O’Donoghue in the winning move along with Phil Cassidy, Paddy Moriarty, Quin and the late Brian Lennon.
“You couldn't have asked for a more star-studded break. As was the case many times those years, Eddie O' played it perfectly and beat Casso in the gallop.”
Favourite for Sunday: Dowling will blow everyone away. I've never seen him so fit.
Armstrong will be up there as well but I think Dowling is the man; super-conservative, waits in the wings and then, boom, he’s gone.
Sean Lacey (Aquablue)
“My first Des Hanlon was in 2002. There was rain and wind and I was flying at the start but I tried to go with too many moves and I ended up blowing up big time with around 12 miles to go.
“I managed 12th. Brian Kenneally won solo. I’ve done the Hanlon every year except 2006 due to having a broken collar bone.”
Favourite for Sunday: Mark Dowling has to be the favourite.
He has been in Lanzarote for the winter, training for this weekend and the Easter weekend.
Ryan Connor (former pro)
“Having read some of the other riders’ comments I’m not entirely sure what my first Des Hanlon was.
“I thought I remembered at least two of them, the year in the snow and the year I was second to Ciarán Power (2007) but it appears those two were the same year.
“What started out as a sunny pre-race and first mile left me under dressed because one mile in there was a brutal headwind, rain and not long afterwards, it started to snow.
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“I remember Adam Armstrong laughing at me having no leg warmers as it snowed heavily on us and me having a go back as he had loads of clothes on but no gloves!
“After a gruelling race I remember getting away with Ciarán Power the final time up the climb and thinking it’s a massive tailwind finish. ‘I just need him to come around me up the climb and I will have this’, I thought.
“Of course, Ciarán was a lot more tactically astute than me back then and was having none of it and didn’t come around me.
“I think he even gave me a smile halfway up the climb, just to let me know he wasn’t for coming.
“So in the very fast run-in I was resigned to second but think I tried one final time to get away, even though the legs were gone and I was happy to have taken second that day.”
Stickybottle's Brian Canty
“I think the Des Hanlon was one of my first ever races with Kanturk CC. It was probably 2009 and I had a lot to learn.
"Eating a load of pasta an hour before the race was bad but being last into the left turn before Castlecomer was a bigger one.
“I went straight out the back halfway up the climb and was suddenly on my own.
“I’d no idea which way to go but I followed the discarded gel wrappers and eventually the break from the A race caught me.
“I tried sitting on these – thinking it’d be fine, but the commissaire absolutely lashed me, because Maurice O’Brien (also Kanturk CC) was there, along with Stephen Surdival (Usher URC).
“I was in awe of Maurice, even though I didn’t know him.
“He reminded me of Jan Ullrich the way he rode. Surdival suffered like you wouldn’t believe.
“I got into the team car driven by Dan Curtin and he was just loving the fact one of his own was dishing it out."
Favourite for Sunday: Mark Dowling is the man everyone will watch but the fact he is with ASEA-Wheelworx changes things massively.
They will have men in the moves - as will Aquablue, so both teams will ride. It is a day for an outsider for me.
Sam Bennett (Bora – Argon 18)
“I remember the circuit. It’s a really good race. I remember it was really long; a lot of the Irish races were short so I never experienced a race that length before.
“That’s when Martin (O’Loughlin) came into his own; he would be so strong in those races. He just had this big engine.
“I remember getting cramps and people not believing me but I used to cramp in every race - and nobody believed me!”
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