Friday evening saw the return of the Balbriggan town center criterium. The course was just over two kilometers per lap with forty five minutes plus five laps set for the evenings agenda. The event was superbly run from start to finish and in return the gathered crowd were treated to some great racing.
The pace was fast from the off as the contenders attempted to maintain position near the front of the bunch. The course proved to be very technical with fast sections and hard cornering. Mid way through the fifth lap I had a mechanical issue - my rear tubular tyre rolled off and I nearly ended up going for a swim in the harbor. As per crit rules I took a lap out to sort the issue and rejoined what I thought was my group on the road. The problem was at the time I had the mechanical the front group of the race was changing a lot with riders bridging and being dropped. The commissaire made a call - he felt I was in the second group on the road, so after some misguided adrenaline fueled protests I returned to the second group on the road.
The second group on the road weren't working very well together and were struggling to make any inroads into the advantage of the leading four riders. With about twelve laps remaining I attacked and tried to close the gap which was under the minute mark. Despite a chase,which hurt like you wouldn't believe, I never made contact with the leading four riders. The race turned into some nice time trial practice and I rolled across the line in 5th position.
This was the most enjoyable race of the season so far. A great circuit coupled with a superb atmosphere made this the race which other organisers must strive towards.
1, Paídi O’Brien (Sportactive)
2, Daniel Clifford (Sporactive)
3, Mark Dowling (Team Dectek)
4, Stephen O’Sullivan (Team Dectek)
5, Anthony Walsh (UCD)
Pictures from Irishcycling.com
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