O'Brien grabs chance with both hands for 'Peter Bidwell' win

Aaron O’Brien got clear in the Peter Bidwell and made the most of the opportunity he had carved out for himself (Photo: Sean Rowe)

You pay your money and you take your chances; it may be an old cliché but it rang true for Aaron O’Brien this evening, Saturday.

The Mego Raw Cycles man and two others were intent on beating the handicapping at the Peter Bidwell Memorial in Co Louth this evening having signed on with 100 others for what is always a great short, sharp contest.

O’Brien, along with Paul Kennedy of Newcastlewest and Aaron Parks of CCT started in the A2 group, the third of four on the road.

With two minutes of a cushion on the A1s behind but only one minute to close on the A3s just ahead and another 60 seconds to the A4 limit men they made the calculation and went for broke.

On the third 6.4km lap of eight circuits the trio broke clear of the group they were in just as the A1 men closing.

And working very well together they caught and passed all of those in their path before surging ahead and finding themselves leading as a trio on the final lap.

And though there were some very strong juniors and some powerful A1 men not too far behind hunting them all the way to the line, they hung on to contest the order of the podium.

At the finish it was O’Brien of Mego Raw Cycles who got the verdict from Kennedy and Parks, in that order.