Rás Naomh Finian/Darach McCarthy Results Round Up

In addition to Lawless’ victory in Newbridge and the Orwell 200 audax, the Orwell picked up results in other races, particularly with the Orwell women in the Rás Naomh Finian and the Darach McCarthy. A round up…

Rás Naomh Finian

Orwell Newbie Orla Walsh took a fantastic podium result in her first race with the club. Orwell legend Aideen Keenan finished 6th in a race with a great field of 28 riders which also saw a lot of the new Orwell contingent start their first race.

Orla’s feedback: “[My] training and preparation was mainly my 10km commute to work and a couple spins with Gerard’s orange Saturday group. I think his spin the weekend before had helped strengthen the legs though. Hid in the back during the race and made sure to avoid the wind. My main goal was to stick on the persons wheel in front of me no matter what. Only problem with that tactic though was I had my head down and was unaware when the winning rider had taken off. When I hit the 1km mark I realised I didn’t feel too bad! I might just have a stab at placing somewhere here. I was already positioned on the outside of the group to avoid the wind that was coming from the left so started moving up towards the front. When I saw the finish line I just went for it. My decent sprint and the fact that the rest of the group were blocking the wind meant I started passing several of them quickly! I was left with only one other racer ahead in the sprint who got over the line with a wheel ahead of me.”

In the men’s A1-A2 race, Odhrán Connors was the 2nd unplaced A2 rider, continuing the consistent stream of results coming from the Orwell.

Darach McCarthy & Co Solicitors RR, sponsored by Cahills Cheese

Emily Brick and Sean Higgins arrived back from a training camp in Spain and lined up for the Darach McCarthy & Co Solicitors RR in Limerick. Brick won the race and Higgins came 5th in the A4 race. Afterwards Brick was quick to play down the victory: “There were actually only three women in the race, and we were in with the M50 men”