Epic Weekend at Ras Donegal

 Ras Donegal 2015

Team: Johnny Mc Conomy, Gerald Scullion, Nicky Gormley, Eunan McAleese, Paddy Kelly, Mickey Kelly, Barry Russell, Joe McCrory.

Stage 1 Friday Evening

This was short but fast 32mile stage heading towards Glenties followed a right turn where the attacks started as the field neared the first KOH. The descent to the main road was really windy and dangerous, followed by a right turn towards Killybegs, then another right turn for home. There were plenty of attacks off the front only to be brought back again with the strong Errigall team closing them down. With the eventual stage winner Honore forging ahead to take the stage by 3 secs this allowed other riders to break away with 10 other riders including Joe McCrory who finished 7^th, and managed to gain a short time advantage over the main bunch.  The rest of Carn team finished safely - including Mairead Mc Gurk racing the womens Ras which covered the same tough course.  

Stage 2 Mountain TT

Good times were had by all considering the brutal headwind for the short but tough 3 kms Hill Climb

Joe finished best of the Carn team with an impressive time leaving him 9th in GC going in to stage 3

Stage 3 Saturday afternoon 51 miles
This was to be the toughest stage of the weekend with plenty of hills and brutal winds. This along with a few crashes caused the race to blow to pieces with plenty of splits on the bunch. With Marc Heaney in the break none of the Carn men were eager to ride him down, so everyone was happy to make it back to Ardara safely ready for a well-deserved rest before the infamous Glengesh, and the hope for better weather on the last stage!

Stage 4 Sunday Afternoon 62 miles

This was the longest stage of the weekend finishing with the dreaded Glengesh climb in Glencolmcille as a sunny but breezy day greeted the riders as they set out on the first climb from Ardara. With a few riders managing to break away in the early stages it was Errigall who were doing the majority for the work to keep the time gap down, and keep Honore in the yellow jersey. After a few visits through Ardara on the final few KM towards Glengesh, there were still plenty of Carn main in the main bunch, with Barry Russel , Paddy and Mickey Kelly all well positioned for the hill finish, but the climbers in the team made their way to the front with Joe first up Glengesh followed closely by Paddy Kelly and Eunan Mc Aleese - the remainder of the carn men finished the weekend strongly considering the tough course and wind that was endured.

In the womens race Mairead was delighted to make it to the summit and would like to thank her team mates for the support she received which helped her to finish the race.  It really was a team effort. A special well done to all the guys completing Ras Donegal for the first time, Nicky Gormley, Johnny McConomy, Gerard Scullion, and Barry Russel who all made it to the finish, with a much depleted field from the original start list showing just how tough a weekends racing this is.

Congratulations to all the team, a great result for the club, a special thanks to Carl Mc Williams, Cathal Doyle and Johnny Taylor for driving the race and for their support as the team managers, and all the friends and families of the riders who came down to cheer the lads on. A special mention to Four Masters for a fantastic event as always, and with a sell out race of 180 registered riders, it really was a very well run weekend.

Also well done to young Marc Heaney riding for Belgian Project over the weekend, doing the club proud with a string of results and a 4th overall on the GC, and with another year left as a JNR, he could have his sights set on improving on this result next year!