Season starts
Leinster League: Race 1 Saturday March 2nd 2002
First outing in the new club colours was the first round of the Leinster League, hosted by Kilcullen CC and ran from Narraghmore, Co.Kildare. The race was run over 6 laps with a Nags Head type climb before the finish on each lap. The race was run on a h/cap basis with C riders off first, then the vets, B’s etc and the A riders first off on the road but had an extra lap to complete.
After all the slagging we gave Anto McMahon over the winter, regarding his gung-ho tactics, he proved he was listening by attacking on the hill on lap one. At the top of the climb he eased slightly to be joined by 3 other riders who had followed his attack. These 4 then worked together to extend their lead. After a further two laps the lead group was down to three, but all had to ride through to protect the gap. Anto tried to shake off his fellow escapees on the final climb but a downward glance, showed him that this wasn’t to be. He went into the sprint as third wheel, but was slightly to slow to react to the final attack and ran out of road to come back. But 1st Vet and 3rd on the road from a field of just over 100 riders ain’t half bad!
| Pos. | Rider | Club |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | D Byrne | Usher IRC |
| 2. | I Ormond | Carrick Cidona CC |
| 3. | A McMahon | McNally Joinery Swords |
| 4. | J Lawless | Usher IRC |
| 5. | J Cruise | Bray Wheelers CC |
| 6. | S Enright | Usher IRC |
Cycleways Cup Sunday March 3rd 2002
Large fields of over 70 riders in each of the A, B and C (incl Vets, J, L) races with Swords riders in each. We were ably represented by Pepe (A), Sean Tierney (B), John Lal (B), Mick Rock (V), Pat Halpin (V), Keith Daly (J), Jason Kelly (C) and Garoid Loughnane (B). Racing was competitive & very fast. John Lally took a spill on the last bend while trying to make up places for the sprint for about 10th place. A crash occurred in front of him and he had nowhere to go. Some cuts & bruises but managed to avoid damage to his new club gear!!!
