Tour Of Ulster Report (by Pat Clarke)
Tour of Ulster on Saturday 2nd May 2009
Recently the Omagh Sports Forum Tour of Ulster was held over the May Bank Holiday weekend and the four members of the Lakeland Cycle Club, namely John McManus, Kenny Boylan and the Dunlop cousins, Ray and Dane, who give outstanding performances over the three days of the event.
The first day of the Tour was 75 miles in length and here the pace was high with the average speed of 26.25 MPH and the best place rider from the Lakeland Club was Dane Dunlop, who came in a three man group finishing in 36th place. The group broke clear and Dane's group came home six seconds ahead of the main bunch. Ray Dunlop finish in the main bunch in 78th place, while Boylan finish 88th and Club secretary, John McManus finish in 93rd place.
The shorter 2nd stage of the tour on Sunday morning seen Dane again finish in 36th place but moved up one place overall on General Classification. Ray however, got the better of his younger cousin by finish 31st on the second stage and now moved up to 50th place overall. Boylan, however slip down a few places overall.
On Sunday evening, it was the time of truth namely the 2.6 mile Time Trial on the Dromore Road. Dane's performance here was excellent as he finish just 20 seconds behind the stage winner and the 2009 Tour of the North Winner and also the same time behind the eventually Tour of Ulster winner Sean Downey. Dane's cousin, Ray also performed well in the TT also and after the final results of the TT stage, he moved up another eleven places to 39th overall.
The final stage on Monday morning, actually when over proved the toughest of the three days of racing, even though it was just 65 miles in length. Luck was thought with the Dunlop's cause during the stage around Victoria Bridge, Dane and Ray got away in a chasing group, however Irvine got over to the chase group as he was now some two minutes behind the new race leader, namely Downey.
With the arrival of Irvine now in the chasing group, the speed was increased which caused riders to be dropped and this included the two Dunlop. When it came to the finish line, again, young Dane showed his sprinting power and came in ahead several seconds ahead of the main bunch and following Dane, Ray was just two place behind. Over the two Dunlop boys were happy with their performances and Dane overall was 4th second category in the tour and finished 31st overall. Ray was 5th second category rider and finished in 33rd place overall.
The next tour for the Lakeland Cycle Club will be the Ras Dunn na nGall on the last weekend in May when the event will be held in west Donegal.