Conor Murphy (left) is congratulated by Thomas Martin after winning the Shay Elliott Memorial back in May; a race that saw the Eurocycles men ride away from the field for a dominant 1-2. Both are on the move for next year. (www.blackumbrella.ie)
By Brian Canty
Conor Murphy and Thomas Martin have parted ways with the Eurocycles team that they’ve been a part of for the last number of seasons and will ride for the Caldwell Cycles Racing Team from Omagh in 2014.
Though the club is only entering its second year racing on the road having started out as a mountain bike club, Paul Caldwell says they’ve enjoyed an excellent 2013 and look forward to more of the same next year with the acquisition of such strong riders.
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“It’s only our second year but we’ve won a bit already; Darnell Moore is only a first year junior but he won the second stage and the overall at the Omagh Three-Day and we also had the runner-up in that,” he said.
The club boasts a membership of around 25 riders but Murphy, Martin and another former Eurocycles man who played an integral role in putting the team together, Paul Mulligan, will bump up their numbers – and their firepower.
“We’re still looking at the calendar to see what kind of races we’ll be doing but I’d imagine it’ll be a similar programme again; the Tour of Ulster, the Wallace Caldwell which Thomas won this year, the Elliott which Conor won. Noel Collins is another rider with huge potential. He started this year as an A4 and made the jump up to A2 having come from a triathlon background and is one to watch.”
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As regards the An Post Rás, Caldwell said: “We’re still debating it. It’s a lot of money and what’s the point going for a finisher’s medal? You should go to the Dublin marathon if you want one of those. If you’re not going to win a stage why are you here? I have men that can contend so we’ll have to wait and see.”
While Conor Murphy has taken a lot of big wins - this year alone the Shay Elliott, Cycleways Cup and a Rás Mumhan stage - Thomas Martin is arguably one of the strongest young riders in the country who may catch a few by surprise in the next year or two.
He is no stranger to victory himself, having taken the Wallace Caldwell and Tour of Armagh to name but two. But a very strong, if largely unnoticed, ride in this year's Rás suggests he has a lot more development to come.
On the penultimate stage of the race through the climbs of Wicklow, he was just one of three county riders remaining in a 'bunch' of 23, having ridden away from field with Murphy in the Shay Elliott just a week before the Rás got underway.
Performances like that suggest he has the ability to become one of the very best riders in the country if he got the momentum and confidence of a good run behind him.
The Caldwell Cycles team will ride Giant bikes and will have kit provided by David McQuaid at DMC Sports.
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