Sean Lacey was one of three men whose performances bagged the team prize for Aquablue at the National Road Race Championships on Sunday (Photo: Brendan Slattery)
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By Brian Canty
They may not have gotten a fraction of the fanfare of the other medal-winners on the day, but once again the Aquablue team were celebrating on Sunday night after they claimed the team prize from the National Road Race Championships.
The six-man team of Olan Barrett, Tim Barry, Keith Gator, Damian Shaw, Sean Lacey and Robin Kelly - managed on the day by Maurice Lawlor - took the gold medal after placing three of their men in better finishing positions than any other trios from rival teams.
Though less than a third of those who started the race finished – and the Aquablue team shed Barry, Kelly and Barrett during the 170 kilometre title race - they had bronze medal winner Shaw, 24th placed Lacey and 29th placed Gator to thank for ensuring they were in the medals.
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Unfortunately they had to wait two hours for confirmation of the result and by that stage the finishing area was being dismantled meaning they didn’t get to celebrate on the podium like the other medal winners over the weekend.
It has been a phenomenal season so far for the Cork-based team and Sunday’s team prize now means they have taken that honour in all of the major stage races so far this year, including Rás Mumhan, the Tour of Ulster, the An Post Rás and now the Nationals. And if they do so at the Suir Valley Three-Day in a little over a month’s time they’ll have completed the set.
They had some strong competition for the award in Carlingford on Sunday, not least from the likes of DID Dunboyne and the Eurocycles contingents.
Tim Barry said they had targeted the team prize because in a race with such a high-class field, there was little else to aim for.
“We went up with the intention of leaving our mark on the race again and we did that two-fold. Damien is Damien and we all know he can do amazing things. But Lacey and Keith; they rode incredible too and deserve enormous credit. It was them who won us the prize and I’m very proud of them and the team. That’s four races this year now we’ve won (the team prize) so hopefully we can make it five at the Suir Valley.”
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