Pádraig Marrey back in the game with winter road race win

Pádraig Marrey is one of the real warriors of Irish cycling and has finished the Rás 12 times. He was advised to step back from serious competition two years ago after a minor heart attack that required a stint implant, but he was back winning races in his home county today having recovered very well from his health issue (Photo: Pawel Sadowski – Shutterstills.com)

Two years after a minor heart attack and subsequent surgery, well-known Irish cycling figure Pádraig Marrey has won a 40km road race in his home county.

The Western Lakes CC man won the Sean Stagg Shield promoted by Hollymount Wheelers after the group he was in just about managed to hold off the limit men.

Almost 50 riders turned up for the race which was broken into a number of groups; club riders, women, A4, A3 and an A1-A2 scratch group with only 90 seconds separating the first from last group off.

John Gill (Western Lakes CC) put in a massive effort leaving the A3 group along with Aidan Reade (Black Rose Racing) and they went straight through the groups up ahead.

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National junior time-trial champion Ben Walsh (Nicolas Roche Performance Team) and Jason Prendergast (Cunga CC) were two of the main pace-setters from the scratch group.

But not even they could get back on level terms with the leaders.

Gill, Reade and around half the field - club riders, women and A4s - who managed to stay with them looked like they would be caught and with a kilometre to go the scratch men were within sight.

However, they never managed to bring it back for a full-on bunch sprint.

Instead, it was the experienced Marrey who timed his kick to perfection to take the win from John O’Halloran (Western Lakes) and Conor Gill (Hollymount Wheelers CC).