The top three on the night, left to right: Charlie Prendergast, Padraig Marrey and Paddy Clarke (Photo: Conor McKeown - http://conormckeown.photoshelter.com/)
Charles Prendergast has claimed the County Mayo Road Race title with a late attack on during Wednesday night's contest in Westport enough to see off silver medalist Paddy Clarke after that strong pairing had distance the rest of the 53-rider field in the 63km race.
With 10 categories to cater for, this race was very much a race with a race as tactics played a role on who followed who but in the end aggressive riding was rewarded as it was those who attacked who gained the most.
The route took in Newport, Glenisland, Glenhest, Newport with the finish on Minister hill on the approach to Westport and with 10 categories to be decided there was very strong racing through the field as even those out of the hunt of the race win were trying to claim victory or a podium spot in their respective categories.
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The race started at a frantic pace with attacks from the drop of the flag. A number of moves were instigated by Castlebar CC but these were all reeled in by Newport where a move by Ciaran Clarke (Castlebar CC) and Padraig Marrey (Western Lakes CC) opened a gap on the hill up by Cuilmore school.
By the top of that climb the gap was only a few seconds on chasers Paddy Clarke (Castlebar CC) and Prendergast (Polygon Sweet Nice), who quickly joined the leaders just ahead of them. That quartet rode as a solid unit for the next 40kms, holding a gap of around one minute on the bunch in the Wesport Covey Wheelers-promoted event.
At Kilmeena, with 7k to go, the attacks up front splintered the quartet, with Prendergast and Clarke opening a small gap on Marrey and Ciaran Clarke.
Prendergast went for broke when he put in a huge attack on Barley Hill with 2km remaining, putting the in-form Paddy Clarke under serve pressure. However, having taken a string of wins this summer in his first season based at home after three years in Belgium, Paddy Clarke got back on terms with the flying Prendergast.
However, a second attack by Prendergast opened daylight between the two which would prove decisive. A pursuit ensued all the way to line and ended with victory for Louisburg man Prendergast for the second time in a row at these championships.
In the sprint for third place, ever-green Marrey had just enough to take it from Ciaran Clarke, with Marrey winning the veterans' title and Ciaran Clarke's fourth place across the line enough to give him the bronze in the A1 category.
Some 60 seconds later Chris Troy of Castlebar CC won the gallop up the hill from Michael Brady of Westport Covey, who took the A2 gold. JJ Flaherty of Western Lakes was 7th across the line and took silver in the A2 category.
The bunch followed another 30 seconds later, with David McGrath of Castlebar CC showing a fine turn of speed to win the 15-man gallop winning and taking the A3 gold for his efforts.
Mayo County Road Race Championships
Westport, Wednesday, July 17th
Promoted by Westport Covey Wheelers
1st Charles Prendergast Polygon Sweet Cunga CC
2nd Patrick Clarke Castlebar CC
3RD Padraig Marrey Western Lakes CC
Team Castlebar CC (Patrick Clarke, Ciaran Clarke, Chris Troy, David Mc Grath)
A1 Category
1st Charles Prendergast
2nd Patrick Clarke
3rd Ciaran Clarke
A2 Category
1st Mick Brady Westport Covey
2nd JJ Flaherty Western Lakes CC
3rd Mark Quigley Western Lakes CC
A3 Category
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1st Dave Mc Grath Castlebar CC
2nd Colm Staunton Westport Covey
3rd Gary Collins Cunga CC
A4 Category
1st Ollie Whyte Westport Covey
2nd David Mac Dermott Western Lakes CC
3rd Michael Flynn Westport Covey
Juniors
1st Jason Prendergast Cunga CC
2nd Con Doherty Westport Covey
3rd Cale Coen Castlebar CC
Veteran
1st Padraig Marrey Western Lakes CC
2nd Chris Troy Castlebar CC
3rd Albert Morrow Ballina
Women
1st Collette Sweeney Westport Covey
2nd Siobhan O Malley Westport Covey
3rd Tina O Malley Westport
Under 16
1st Sean Flynn Westport Covey
2nd Karl Benson Castlebar CC
Club Racer
1st Sean Hastings Westport Covey
2nd Tom Mc Greal Westport Covey
3rd Eoin Carr Westport Covey
The field tackles one of the inclines on the course on a fantastic summer's night for racing. There were nine Mayo clubs, all with a combined membership of over 1,000 riders. (Photo: Conor McKeown - http://conormckeown.photoshelter.com/)
The bunch behind the breakaway continued to fragment and get smaller under the pressure of some aggressive riding with so many medals on offer for the different categories. (Photo: Conor McKeown - http://conormckeown.photoshelter.com/)
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