Gorey 3 Day Report 2009

7 riders from the club took part in the Gorey 3 day international stage race at the Easter weekend.

200 riders from around Ireland and the UK raced over 300k over 4 stages where the race was based in Gorey county Wexford.

On Stage one the stage travelled from Dublin to Gorey a distance of 117kms all the western lake riders were active in small breakaway group but none of them prevailed except for one rider from the isle of man who held on to finish 14seconds up on the bunch Padraig Marrey sprinted very well to get 5th in the gallop to the line to end up 6th on the stage, Mark Quigley, JJ Flaherty and Gerhard Hack from Germany guesting for the club all finished well up in the bunch except Will Connolly who had to pull out due to illness, John Murphy(Skins) Ballinrobe only new to cycling was taking on his biggest sporting challenge ever found the going tough but finished in a group that also contained Joe Marrey who were a few minutes back on the leaders.

Stage 2 was a 7k time trial, this stage helped to put the race in to a general classement as there were time gaps between all the riders depending on how they performed.

Padraig Marrey and Mark Quigley were again to the fore coming home 15th and 19th respectively some 15 and 18 seconds behind the winner the Polish rider Martin Mizagayski who resides in Wexford town.

Stage 3 was a circuit race around Gorey it consisted of a 26k hilly lap to be completed 4 times.

Again JJ Flaherty and Mark Quigley were very active in pushing the pace but it was Padraig Marrey move on the 3rd lap that shaped the race when he drove a group away that ended up fighting for the stage spoils. Young Isle of man rider Tim Kennaught rode strongest to take the stage with Padraig Marrey finishing 3rd 7seconds behind but 30seconds ahead of the main bunch this put Padraig into 4th place overall only 29seconds behind the leader Tim Kennaught IOM, with one stage left over 63 miles.

On the last stage the Western Lakes riders went all out to try and get riders up the road in breakaway group so that Padraig may have a chance of stealing the overall, one attack nearly did the business when JJ Flaherty and Padraig Marrey got away in a group of 8 riders that held a max lead of 40seconds over the Yellow jersey, but it was the yellow jersey team that rode very hard behind to bring the breakaway group under control.

This stage ended up with two IOM riders breaking away and winning the spoils, Padraig Marrey again showed his sprinting skills to finish 8th on the stage.

Tim Kennaught IOM was the star of the race and won the overall, Padraig Marrey finished a very creditable 5th overall and Mark Quigley also made it into the prizes with 18th overall.

The Western Lakes Team finished 7th out of 21 teams overall only 1minute 26seconds down on the 1st team Ushers IRC Dublin

For John Murphy and Joe Marrey this race was a great learning experience and for JJ Flaherty, Mark Quigley, Gerhard Hack and Padraig Marrey their performances will only improve as the season goes on.

Next big race outing for the team will be the Tour of Connemara starting in Maam on Sunday the 26th of April.