Youth Road National Championships played out across two fantastic
days of racing in Kilmacthomas, Co. Waterford over the weekend, 17th
and 18th of August.
The weekend, organised brilliantly by Dungarvan CC, saw riders take on a Time-Trial and a Road Race on Saturday, with the Criterium event taking place on the Sunday.
The U11 Boys category was won by Orwell Wheelers Benjamin
Cunningham. Fermoy’s Max McGrath came in second place ahead of Caden Byrne from
Carlow in third.
Another Orwell rider in Molly Turner took the win in the U11
Girls event, ahead of two Sliabh Luachra riders in Caroline Collins and Cara O’Sullivan
in second and third respectively.
The U12 Boys TT title was taken by Cullen Murphy from O’Leary
Stone Kanturk. He was followed by Daragh Quigley of Foyle CC, edging out Ashton
Foley Doran from Carlow RCC by just three seconds.
IMBRC’s Laoise Crinion took the win in U12 Girls TT, while
Daria Murphy of Orwell Wheelers and Lily McDermott of TC Racing took second and
third respectively.
James Cunningham from Orwell Wheelers finished first in the
U13 Boys time-trial. He finished ahead of Ethan Real from Sliabh Luachra in
second, and Square Wheels’ Rory McCool in third.
Breffni Wheelers’ Ava Baker took the win in the U13 Girls
category. Sliabh Luachra’s Rose Linehan and Caoilfhionn Foley filled the other
two podium spots in second and third respectively.
Tom Lane of O’Leary Stone Kanturk won the U14 Boys Championship,
and was the first rider to average over 40km/h on the day. Isaac Kyle from Team
Madigan CC came in second ahead of Eoin Davis riding with Bohermeen CC.
Sliabh Luachra rider Abaigh Dennehy took the win in the U14
Girls Championship ahead of VC Glendale’s Aoife Craigh in second and Naoise
Byrne of Carlow RCC in third.
In the U15 Boy’s category Bellurgan’s Rian McCrystal finished
on top ahead of Noah Finn from Spin the Bean in second and Caleb McGreevy from
VC Glendale in third.
All Human/VeloRevolution rider Emer Heverin won the U15
Girls category while Orwell Wheelers Ysabella Huele took second and Clodagh
Molyneaux from Bohermeen CC took third.
VC Glendale’s Adam Ward took top spot in the U16 Boys TT
followed by Hugh Og Mulhearne from Verge Sport PI Cycles. Jack Lawless from
Gorey Cycling Club rounded out the podium, with all three riders separated by
less than 10 seconds.
Two Dungarvan CC local riders took first and second in the
U16 Girls TT, with Aoibheann Ryan beating Aoife O’Donovan. Breffni Wheelers’
Aisha Gannon took the last podium spot.
When the Road Race got underway in the afternoon, the U11
Boys race was narrowly won by Orwell’s Benjamin Cunningham, just beating Max McGrath
from Fermoy and Conor Whelan from Bohermeen.
Sliabh Luachra’s Caroline Collins won the U11 Girls race by
over 30 seconds, ahead of club mate Cara O’Sullivan. Square Wheels rider Ruby
Millar took the final spot on the podium.
Cullen Murphy made it two wins on the day for himself in the
U12 Boys race. He finished ahead of Daragh Quigley from Foyle CC and William Hance
from Orwell Wheelers in second and third respectively.
Laoise Crinion from IMBRC also got her second win of the day
in the U12 Girls race, beating Daria Murphy from Orwell Wheelers and Lilly
McDermott from TC Racing.
Ethan Real won the U13 Boys race ahead of two Orwell
Wheelers riders in James Cunningham and Xander Huele.
Rose Linehan won the U13 Girls road race, with the Sliabh
Luachra rider beating Breffni Wheelers Ava Baker in second and Caoilfhionn
Foley in third.
A tight finish saw Tom Lane come out on top of the U14 Boys
race, ahead of Eoin Davis from Bohermeen and Isaac Kyle from Team Madigan CC in
second and third respectively.
The U14 Girls race was was won by VC Glendale’s Aoife Craig,
narrowly beating out Orwell Wheeler’s rider Katie Turner in second, with Abaigh
Dennehy rounding out the podium.
Rian McCrystal got himself a second win on the day when he
took top spot in the U15 Boys race. Panduit Carrick Wheelers’ James Logue took
second while Tony Kenneally from Dungarvan CC took third.
The U15 Girls race saw a carbon copy of the earlier TT
podium, with Emer Heverin finishing ahead of Ysabella Huele and Clodagh Molyneaux.
Carlow’s Jack Woods claimed top spot in the U16 Boys race,
beating Sundrive Track Team’s George Sevastopulo in second, with Team Madigan’s
Elliott McKeegan taking third.
Host club Dungarvan saw their rider in Aoife O’Donovan take
the win in the U16 Girls race. Ffion Dolan from TC Racing took second while
Aisha Gannon from Breffni Wheelers took third.
Sunday morning saw the riders on the road again, with
Criterium events starting early.
Greenmount CA rider Nuadha Walsh took the win in the U11
Boys race, followed by Benjamin Cunningham. Caden Byrne from Carlow RCC took third
place.
In the U11 Girls race, Orwell Wheelers Molly Turner took the
win over two Sliabh Luachra riders in Caroline Collins and Cara O’Sullivan in
second and third respectively.
Cullen Murphy made it a three peat on the weekend when he
took the U12 Boys race. He was followed by William Hance from Orwell Wheelers
in second, and Daragh Quigley from Foyle CC in third.
Lilly McDermott from TC Racing grabbed the win in the U12
Girls race. Laoise Crinion took second, narrowly beating Daria Murphy in third.
Ethan Real continued his previous day’s good form, and took
the win in the U13 Boys race. Orwell Wheelers took the remaining podium spots,
with James Cunningham in second and Xander Huele in third.
Rose Linehan took the win in the U13 Girls criterium, beating
Ava Baker in second, while Caoilfhionn Foley finished in third.
Sundrive Track Team’s Oscar Sevastopulo took the win in a
tight U14 Boys event, beating Tom Lane from O’Leary Kanturk and Eoin Davis from
Bohermeen CC in second and third consecutively.
Less than a second separated the top four riders in the U14
Girls race. Aoife Craig came out on top, ahead of Abaigh Dennehy in second and
Katie Turner in third, while Naoise Byrne from Carlow CC narrowly missed out on
a podium spot.
Rian McCrystal continued his Saturday success in the U15 Boys
category, taking the win ahead of VC Glendale’s Caleb McGreevy in second, and
Spin the Bean rider Noah Finn in third.
Amazingly, the U15 Girls race again saw Emer Heverin,
Ysabella Huele and Clodagh Molyneaux finish 1, 2 and 3 again, identical to the
TT and Road Race podium.
The Sevastopulo family took home another championship win, with
George this time taking the U16 Boys race. James Armstrong from VC Glendale
took second, with Darragh Byrne from SAXUN-EXTRUSAX-PRIMOTI taking third.
Dungarvan’s Aoife O’Donovan added the U16 Girls race to her
weekend’s tally. Aisha Gannon took second place, with Ffion Dolan taking third.
Congratulations to all competitors, and organisers in Dungarvan CC, for a brilliant weekend of racing.