Errigal Youth Tour

On Saturday the 2nd of August 2014 3 Carn Wheelers lined out for stage 1 of the 2014 Errigal International youth tour.  As usual there were big numbers in all 3 categories. In a change to the programme from previous years, the event started off with the toughest stage of the weekend first with the tough Keeloges climb back into Churchill village coming at the end of each lap.

In a reversal of the running order  the under 16 were going off first with Marc Heaney lining up among the 97 competitors from all over Ireland, the UK and Europe. It has to be said that conditions were far from ideal with torrential rain and strong winds a feature throughout the day.  As the weekends racing got underway,  no sooner had the riders got out of sight than news filtered back that there had been a crash on the fast decent heading towards the first major corner of the lap.  It was a relief to see Marc come through sitting safely at the front of the peloton.  Unfortunately this wasn’t the end of the crashes but these brave riders weren't put off by either the weather or the crashes and served up a real attacking race.  At the end 2 riders had got well clear of the peloton with a couple of chasers in between themselves and the remains of the peloton and as the bunch sprint followed the leaders home Marc came  through unscathed in a brilliant 14th place.

The under 12's were next up with Sarah and Emma Elder taking to the line with 57 other riders. The under 12's had 1 lap of the course to do and at the end of the stage Sarah came home in 36th place and Emma in 52nd  place.  Both girls were pleased to get home safely in very tricky conditions and said there had been a few sketchy moments along the way.

DAY 2 

The morning of day 2 started with the running of the hilly TT.  Riders were faced with 0.9 miles TT with the majority of it uphill finishing in the village of Churchhill.
Under 12 were first of the line and set of at 1 minute intervals.  Emma was first away for the Carn Wheelers and finished in 44th place with Sarah next and coming home in 39^th.

Marc was of a good bit later and put in another solid performance to finish in 22^nd.

It was time to try and get a bit of recovery before the 3rd stage which started later in the day and though it didn't have the tough Keeloges climb, it was still a tough challenge with the terrain very hilly and a few long drags.  Despite a good start to the day the weather again turned nasty  with wind and rain again making its presence felt.  Once again the under 12's were first of and in a race littered with crashes and near misses Sarah came home in 37th and  Emma in 45th.

As with the first stage the under 16's had 5 laps to complete and it was plain to see that all of Marc's hard work over the winter months and spring races was sticking to him well.  There were again a few crashes but Marc was safely tucked in at the front of the peloton.  Again despite horrible conditions the under 16 served up a real cracking race with lots of attacking and chasing down until finally 2 riders got off the front followed by 3 chasers.  This would be the way the race would finish with Marc again taking 14th in the bunch sprint.

DAY 3 

The GC had Marc in 16th overnight and with just the crit to go he still had plenty to fight for. Sarah and Emma were 37th and 45th overall going into the crit and were beginning to feel heavy legged after the previous 2 days efforts as i'm sure were all the riders but never the less spirits were high and the sun was making an all to welcome appearance.

Emma and Sarah were of again first with 6 laps of the fast and furious, and it has to be said technical, course to do the girls really emptied themselves and managed to finish all 6 laps with Sarah holding onto her 37th place in the GC and 3rd girl in class 4 and Emma managed to improve her GC by 2 places to 43rd and finished 5th girl in class 3.

The final race of the 2014 Errigal international youth tour was the crit for the under 16's. This was some spectacle with the racing flatout from the word go. Even though they had 40 mins followed by 5 laps the field soon became stretched with 2 main groups forming a lead group of about 25 to 30 riders and a chase group of a similar size with odd riders trying to spring across and some getting dropped really early such was the pace.  At just over half distance the front group were travelling at such pace that they almost got the second group on the road meaning that the 2nd group were pulled in for safety.  Marc however was safely tucked into the front group though a group of 3 had sprang of the front and stayed away untill the finish leaving the rest to sprint for their placings.   Marc came home in a superb 9th place on the day and a superb 16th overall among probably the strongest field of under 16 riders anywhere in Ireland this year.

I think that the 3 riders can be very proud of their efforts at the youth tour.  They gave everything they had and represented  the club with great pride all weekend.  Also in closing a great thanks must go to Errigal cycling club on hosting this fantastic event.  As always we were made to feel very welcome and enjoyed the atmosphere of this truly international event and look forward to returning next year hopefully with a few more up and coming Carn Wheelers to add to the list of competitors .