Ray Fourth In Ballinrobe
Ballinrobe Two Day cycle race on Saturday 8th August 2009
Five plucky riders left Fermanagh last Saturday morning to take part in the Ballinrobe Two Day cycle race. This race based in the Co Mayo town is a three stage format with one road race stage on the Saturday and a time trial and further road stage on the Sunday.
This race is the only handicapped stage race in Ireland and as such invites first, second and third Category riders as well as ladies and veterans. Wearing the blue and yellow Lakeland colours were none other than team leader Ray Dunlop, Neil Armstrong, Keith Johnston, Mark Kavanagh, and Wesley Foster.
Stage one was an 85k loop taking in no less than five hilltop KOH points and two sprint points. Racing was fierce over this stage with a group of Category three riders able to stay away to gain all the points and some time over the big boys. Ray finished almost a minute down on the yellow jersey on day one.
Sunday morning dawned and it was straight into an eight km time trial. Here Dunlop took some time from his rivals losing only 12 seconds to the fastest man. This left him in 10th place overall with the last 86k stage still to come.
It was on the last stage where the Lakeland men showed their mettle. Raymond made a break off the front of his group followed only by one rider. Seeing the gap open they both worked together and put the hammer down reaching the third category leaders. Here they joined with others from the club and succeeded in lifting the gap to 1 min 20 secs after persuading them to work hard for a good finish.
Ray knew a win was unlikely as the yellow jersey wearer was in this group but they worked tirelessly to the finish. In the end the chase group had the gap down to within a few seconds and Dunlop and the team finished strongly with Ray just missing out on a podium place in fourth.
Big respect to all five riders from the club as this is one of the toughest races in Ireland attracting over 100 entries. Well done boys.
There are no results in the database for this event.