Junior Chris Morahan Takes home his First Title!

The Paddy O'Dwyer took place on Saturday morning in the Phoenix park. The morning was drizzle rain but humid, not a breath of wind... PERFECT for racing. The officials had varied versions of the route this year as the original 10k lap had been cut to 5k. After much discussion the twists, turns, hills and bends were decided. Handicaps were secretly calculated and the runners got ready to roll.

The chasing handicap put Emma McAuley off first. She lead through the first mile and held the lead until 3k. Colin Kirkham was the lead bike making sure the racers had a clear path and took no detours. Susan McGovern (guesting from Donore) came through next, followed closely by Chris Morahan who had stormed off to try to get away from teh chasing 3-pack of Michael, Brendan and Sean. Next was Rene followed by Scratch man Ivan.

The hill coming out of the Fury Glen took it toll on some of the athletes and positions changed. Chris had moved into second and began to chase down Emma. Brendan had broken away and began chasing hard. Ivan the scratch man had not passed anyone yet ut he later told us that he knew he could use his speed over the last 400 metres, "All I had to do was get myself within striking distance". Into teh last half mile and Chris had taken a big lead, Brendan had moved up to 2nd and there was a ferocious battle between Coach and athlete, Michael and Ivan. Ivan just pipped Michael in the last few strides. Sean followed in quickly with a strong run followed by Susan, Emma and Rene.

A Great morning for Crusaders nad a superb first title for Chris. A big thank you to the stewards, Karl, Jimmy and Eugene, Lead Bike Colin, Starter and official time keeper John and our club GPS Lindie (with the maps).

See you next time!

Place Name Race Time. Running Time.

1 Chris Morahan 27m 58 22.58
2 Brendan Corrigan 28.23 20.23
3 Ivan Kinahan 28.57 18.57
4 Michael McGovern 29.03 21.03
5 Sean Curran 29.28 21.28
6 Susan Walsh 29.46 26.46
7 Emma McAulay 29.48 29.48
8 Rene Borg 31.05 22.05