Photo Finish: Paddy Clarke takes a good win on a tough day at the TriBikes Loughrea GP
Having returned home from Belgium after being based there in recent seasons, Mayo man Paddy Clarke has gotten his tenure with Castlebar CC off to a great start with a win in the TriBikes Loughrea GP yesterday, Sunday.
Clarke won the sprint that decided the race; in the end coming home with a couple of bike lengths to spare over those closest to him.
The race was open to A1/A2/A3 riders, with the A3s setting off first with a not insignificant advantage of five minutes over the A1/A2 scratch group for six laps of a 17km loop based around Carrabane, Co Galway.
Some of the men up front were far from content to ride through and try to keep the chasers at bay for as long as they could. Instead, a group of seven riders from that A3 group set off on their own out front in a bid for glory, on what was a cold and breezy day for racing. With two laps of the course behind them, the leading seven had built a very impressive lead of two minutes over the A3 group they had left behind in the early stages.
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However, a similar scenario was playing itself out back the road in the scratch group, from which six men broke clear. They caught the main A3 group and went through them in pursuit of the men who had already taken flight.
The leaders still had a gap of around 1:30 by the time the strong men from the scratch group had caught and made their way through the A3 bunch.
The leading scratch riders then made rapid progress and hunted down those out front, and with two laps remaining there were now six men leading. They were: eventual winner Clarke, Charles Prendergast (Polygon Sweet Nice), Liam Frawley (Galway Bay), Donal Harrington (Western Lakes), Derek Joyce (Galway Bay) and Eoin Whelan (Seven Springs CC).
These made their own of the race in the closing stages, with the chase behind collapsing and giving rise to a gap of a massive six minutes. Behind, Thomas Fallon of Vacansoleil juniors was to the fore in trying to get across.
Clarke, Prendergast and Frawley would prove to be the strongest up front and dropped the other three, leaving the way clear for a three-up sprint which Clarke won to take a great victory.
Harrington – the story about whom crashing in his first Rás last year was stickybottle’s most read story in 2012 – hung on strongly for fourth place, with Joyce in fifth and young Fallon coming through for an eventual sixth place.
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The A4 race was run separately and was also an aggressive affair, with a number of riders going clear over the three laps of the 17km loop, but ultimately being closed down. The race concluded in a bunch sprint taken by Frank Barrett (Galway Bay) from Greg Monaghan (Seven Springs) and Grahame McMullen (Eire Og)
That race was marred by a crash in the closing 1km which ended the chances of some in the sprint to the line.
In the underage events the Birchalls – Eoin and Emily, both of Ballyhoura – won the U12 and U14 races respectively. Dion McCarthy (Unattached) took the U16 race.
A1/A2/A3 Result
1st Paddy Clarke Castlebar
2nd Liam Frawley Galway Bay
3rd Charlie Prendergast PSN
4th Donal Harrington Western Lakes
5th Derek Joyce Galway Bay
6th Thomas Fallon Vacansoleil.
A4 Result
1st Frank Barrett, Galway Bay
2nd Greg Monaghan Seven Springs CC
3rd Grahame McMullen, Eire Og.
Under 12
1st Eoin Birchall. Ballyhoura
2nd Will Ryan, Bray wheelers
3rd Archie Ryan, Bray Wheelers
Under 14
1st Emily Birchall, Ballyhoura
2nd PJ Duggan Errigal CC
3rd Jack McCarthy U/A
Under 16
1st Dion McCarthy U/A
2nd Caimin Muldoon Seven Springs CC
3rd Sean Yelverton Limerick CC.
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