By Gerard Cromwell
Adam Armstrong announced his return to the domestic scene with victory at the Tour of Ards on Saturday and then repeated the feat today when he soloed to victory in the 136km Ben McKenna Memorial in Balbriggan, north Co Dublin.
“I’m working in Tesco, doing nightshifts,” explained the Eurocycles rider of his relatively quiet season thus far.
“So I’ve been pretty busy working every weekend. This is the first weekend I’ve had off and I pulled off two wins somehow. I wasn’t expecting it because I haven’t really raced. I’ve been busy working and just trying to keep myself fit but I’ve been feeling good and a bit fresher this weekend, so to get two wins is unbelievable.”
Although his new job means he has to sleep during the day, Armstrong uses the daily commute as part of his training regime.
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“I’m riding back and forward to work every day, 15 or 20 miles each way, and I’m doing two or three hours each morning so I am still getting 15 or 20 hours a week.”
Today’s victory came after Armstrong went clear with Damien Shaw of Lakeside Wheelers on the penultimate of five laps in the Balbriggan race.
“It was probably a bit early to go, but once you get the gap you have to commit,” said the Northerner.
“That’s what I did. You just have to accept what it is and go for it. Sometimes you might not get the chance again.”
The only one who could, or would, follow Armstrong’s attack was Shaw and the duo built up a couple of minutes lead before the former international runner crashed on a corner on the final lap.
“He’s a good man to be up the road with,” said Armstrong of the Mullingar man.
“He’s honest. He rides hard. We were away for probably 25 or 30 miles and he was unlucky to crash. He came back up to me but I think that took the sting out of him.”
“The fall wasn’t serious,” said Shaw afterwards, sporting cuts to his legs and arms that would suggest otherwise at the finish.
“I just tried to roll through the corner and there was a bit of slurry or something on it and I slid. It was the first time I didn’t take it easy going through it. That’s my first ever fall. They say if you don’t fall off you’re not going hard enough.”
As Shaw licked his wounds and began to fade back towards a Peter Hawkins / David McCann led chase group, Armstrong forged on alone.
“I’ve bad experiences of getting caught on that Dublin road in a headwind on similar circuits and I knew it could happen again easily,” he admitted.
“I knew with David McCann and Peter Hawkins behind I still had to ride hard to stay away.”
Armstrong eventually finished a minute clear of second placed Hawkins with Mark Dowling of Dunboyne taking third ahead of veteran's champion Greg Swinand (Usher Insulations) and an unlucky Shaw.
“Adam is very strong at the moment,” said Shaw.
“We spent nearly a lap and a half on our own so that was tough going. He got his win yesterday but I just don’t have the distance yet. The longest spin I did so far was the Des Hanlon in Carlow last Sunday and that nearly killed me, so if I’d any sense, I shouldn’t have been attacking like I was today.”
Both men will now ride the Ras Mumhan next weekend and also hope to ride the An Post Ras in May although Shaw’s main goal is the Paralympics, where he will ride as a pilot for Andrew Fitzgerald.
“All of these races are just about getting out and hurting myself,” he says, “building a big base and, hopefully, by May when I go back on the track, I’ll have a good, big base to build on and then I can start putting the speed in. I’m hoping to get into the Ras. I have a Paralympic commitment that week but I’m hoping to be able to ride the Ras. For me, to ride seven or eight days in a row, I’ve never experienced anything like that before so I just want to see how I can hold up.”
For Armstrong though, just holding up well is not an option this year.
“The Ras is a big aim,” he says.
“I didn’t expect to win this weekend because I’ve been aiming more towards that. I’ve always let myself down in the Ras and I think there’s a big performance in me there, a good performance. We’ll have a five man squad in Ras Mumhan next weekend first and I’m looking forward to going down there. It’s a stage race I haven’t won yet, so it’s next on the list.”
Results Ben Mckenna Memorial
A1/A2 race
1st Adam Armstrong Eurocycles
2nd Peter Hawkins IG Sigma Sport @ 1min
3rd Mark Dowling DID Dunboyne @1'03
4th Greg Swinand Usher IRC @1'04
5th Damien Shaw Lakeside Wheelers @1'09
6th David McCann R.T.S @ 3'50
7th Seán Lacey Dan Morrissey Speedy Spokes @5'24
8th Conor McAllister CRC/Vitus @9'02
9th Stephen O Sullivan DID Dunboyne @9'07
10th Michael Barry Cuchulainn @ 9'09
Unplaced A2
1st Seán Bracken Usher IRC
2nd Eoin Whelan 7 Springs
3rd Mark Kiernan Murphy Surveys
4th John Kelly Dublin Wheelers
5th Art Mac Manusa South Dublin Zilcom
6th Peter Rimmer Lakeside Wheelers
7th John Kenny Navan RC
8th Will McCabe Eurocycles
9th Declan Kinch Slipstream CC
10th Pat Deegan Eurocycles
11th Leo McAllister CRC/Vitus
A3 Race
1st Eoin McGovern Dublin Wheelers
2nd Danny Bruton DID Dunboyne (Jun)
3rd Cormac Clarke Newry Wheelers (Jun)
4th Sean Loughran Cuchulainn
5th Eoin Deegan Eurocycles
6th Aidan Yates Usher IRC
7th Ciaran Campbell Drogheda Wheelers (Jun)
8th Shaun Rigley South Dublin Zilcom (Jun)
9th Michael Doyle Barrow Wheelers
10th Eoin Morton UCD
11th Gavin Dodd Orwell Wheelers
12th Gareth Gormley Rocky Mountain
13th Angus Fyffe Omagh Wheelers
14th Mark Driver Slaney CC
15th Barrick Parker UCD
Unplaced Junior
1st Sean McKenna Orwell Wheelers
Jazzer Wherity Memorial A4 Race
1st Neil Long Dublin Wheelers
2nd Andrew Stanley Trinity College
3rd Shane Scully Tullamore CC
4th Alan Brosnan Dublin Wheelers
5th Darren Maher Usher IRC
6th Ronan McDonald Dublin Wheelers
7th David Gargle Stamullen Fast Lane
8th Alan Nevin Lakeland CC
9th Dermot Treleaven Swords CC
10th Martin Gilbert Swords CC
Womens Race
1st Amy Brice Phoenix CC
2nd Geraldine Gill Bogermeen CC
3rd Tanya Moran Unattached
4th Charlotte McDonald Orwell Wheelers
5th Francine Meehan Tullamore CC
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