Mimnagh Edges Boylan For Win
Road Race 1 on Wednesday 16th April 2008
Lakeland CC’s road race series began on Wednesday 16th April. Road Race 1 started on the Swanlinbar road near the Three Ways Inn and headed out to Mullen Mart where it turned left to Kinawley. At Kinawley it went right towards Derrylin and then went left at the road junction with the Derrylin road heading back to Bellanaleck. It then went left again to finish at Arney. A large number of riders took part with a strong contingent from Omagh Wheelers and one from Sligo!
The field was split into 3 groups. The front group were given a two minute start on the middle group which in turn had a two minute advantage over the ‘scratch’ group. The weather conditions were good with a moderate head wind on the way out to Derrylin. The front group started off with around ten riders but within a few miles it had disintegrated into a group of only four riders with new men, Roger Monaghan and Sean Fee, joining forces with Kenny Dunlop to keep a very fast pace. Despite their efforts the middle group and the ‘scratch’ group had both caught them by the junction at Derrylin. Once round the turn at this junction the fuse was lit and more riders were blown out the back. With a tailwind now and a good road surface the pace really soared as they made for Bellanaleck. Omagh riders were attacking at the front with the peloton snaking on the road behind them to keep in the draught.
As the race approached Bellanaleck one Omagh rider managed to break clear with Kenny Boylan. Over the next few miles the rest of the peloton started to watch each other to see who was going to chase this break down but with their domestiques all gone no one took the job on and the leading two riders were left to battle it out. In the sprint for the line, at Arney, Brian Mimnagh of Omagh Wheelers just edged Kenny Boylan for top spot. Paul Mulligan, of Omagh Wheelers, led in the rest of the peloton just ahead of Dane Dunlop and Michael Holland. Brian Martin (6th) got some revenge on his father Peter (11th) for the humiliation of the St Patrick’s day time trial. Roger Monaghan was an impressive 10th in his first ever road race.
The keener spectators of the race may have noticed the first sighting this year of the “lesser spotted Foster”, a male, with its distinctive red and black colouring, designed to attract mates (of which it can have many). A majestic sight when in full flight but an increasingly rare sight on our roads as it prefers to spend the winter months in the shelter of the forests at Castle Archdale and Florence Court.
Thanks, as always, to our motley crew of marshals who had a lot of road junctions to cope with. Thankfully chief marshal for the event, Robbie Bryson, had no distractions of cats stuck up trees to deal with as he had earlier circulated texts and emails to Fermangh’s cat community leaders to ensure that their members would not do “anything rash” on this particular evening.
RESULT OF ROAD RACE 1
1 Brian Miminagh Omagh W
2 Kenny Boylan Lakeland cc
3 Paul Mulligan Omagh W @5secs
4 Dane Dunlop Lakeland cc st:
5 Michael Holland Lakeland cc st:
6 Brian Martin Lakeland cc @6secs:
7 William Dunlop Lakeland cc st:
8 Raymond Pauley Lakeland cc @8secs
9 Mark Suffinty Omagh W st:
10 Rodger Monaghan Lakelanst:d cc
11 Peter Martin Lakeland cc st:
12 John McManus Lakeland cc st:
13 Raymond Dunlop Lakeland cc st:
14 Austin McGrath Omagh W st:
15 Kenny Dunlop Lakeland cc st:
16 Wesley Foster Lakeland cc st:
There are no results in the database for this event.