McNally Swords Cycling Club
Updated Autumn 2nd Edition 2004

Week-End Away : The club weekend away is Saturday 23rd of October 2004. We will be staying in McKevitts Hotel in Carlingford Lough, Co Louth. 65 Euro per person sharing which includes evening meal and B&B. Complimentary tickets will be provided for the nightclub and/or resident band. Carlingford is 65 miles away from Swords, which may suit riders who wish to cycle up on Saturday and return on Sunday. Please make sure to contact those who are driving up on the Saturday am to bring your bags,(Terry Quinlan, Tom Markham, Dave Blake, Ken Brennan, Jim Ludden, Eamonn O Morchu). Those who wish to drive up on Saturday am will be completing a 60 mile circuit which will include, Carlingford-Dundalk-Cullaville-Crossmeglen (tea break) -Camlough-Newry-Omeath-Carlingford. Breakfast will be available from 9am in McKevitts, starting our spin at 10am sharp. In addition a smaller scenic trip of 25 miles for Sunday am (for those who are fit enough!) will include Carlingford-Long Mothers Grave in Cooley-Omeath-Carlingford. A total of 31cyclists are going and we have booked the hotel out, including adjacent apartments owned by the proprietor in order to accommodate everybody!

Nite Out in November-Presentation of prizes: Presentation of prizes will take place in Hollywood Lakes Golf Club on Saturday November 27th starting at 7.30pm. This year a more informal night is planned, with music provided by a DJ and finger food. 25 euro/person and 15 euro for underage and juniors. It is important that this event is well supported and it is an opportunity to meet other members, Contact Breda McNally 087-7991579 to book your tickets.

Annual General Meeting: The Annual General Meeting will take place on Monday 29th of November in Fingallians GAA Club at 8pm. The agenda for the meeting will include the Chairpersons and Treasurers report. In addition a number of current committee members are vacating their position and therefore election of new members are required.

Club Gear: As the winter is closing in there are long sleeve jerseys and thermal tops now available for purchase-contact Breda McNally for details

Wicklow 200: Congratulations to all club members who completed the tour this year. In particular well done to Alistair Cole who was one of the first back to Donnybrook, and to Coleen who successfully completed her first tour.

Beginner Cyclists: In response to some enquiries from novice cyclists to join the club, Terry Quinlan has made himself available on Monday nights at 7pm until the 20^th of September to bring people on a 15mile spin, meeting at the Lord Mayors at 7pm. Please encourage friends/family who might be interested. It is planned to continue the spin during the winter perhaps on Sundays subject to enough interest.

Richies Bikes Shop-Whats New? Remember 10% discount applies to club members
1. Now stocking RIDLEY Framesets and bikes
2. 2 GT Racing bikes 999 euro each, reduced from 1,300 euro
3. Coppi racing bikes, alu frames, 105 shimano group set, reduced from 1,600 to 1,200euro
4. Range of Pazzaz equipment such as Handlebars, Forks, Chainwheels
5. ‘Muck off’ - to keep your bike in the ultimate condition!
Check out Richies Website at www.richiesbikestore.com

Club Spins
The weekly club spins continue to be the following times:

Thursday (tea stop)
60miles approx 9.15am (Lord Mayors)

Saturday
50miles approx 8.30am (Blakes Cross)

Saturday (tea stop)
50-60 miles approx 9.00am (Lord Mayors)
(changes to 9.45pm on the new time in November)

Sunday
Racing Group : 9am (Lord Mayors)
Sunday Spin: Liam McGuire has organised a club spin on Sundays for the winter, meeting at the Lord Mayors at 9.15am. This is a 50-60 mile trip non-stop
Leisure Group : 10am (Lord Mayors)

Swords Grand Prix: The Chairperson and Committee would like to thank all those who assisted in the organisation of the event on August 8^th, in particular the Ballyboughal GAA Club, the Gardai, Marshals, and Commissaries and our Club Sponsor. Despite the bad weather over 70 riders took part in the event with the Cycleways Team dominating the results.

McNally Swords Grand Prix (Sunday 8th August)
1 Mark Cassidy, Cycleways Lee Strand
2 Philip Finegan, Cycleways Lee Strand
3 Brian Keane, Dublin Whlrs All Systems
4 Shane Baker, Usher Irish Road Club
5 Aidan Crowley, Cycleways Lee Strand
6 Greg Swinand, Usher Irish Road Club
Unp. B: Daire O'Sullivan, Rubex Naas

Senior C/V/J Race
1 Fergus Ryan, McNally Swords CC
2 Brian Cunningham, Staggs Lucan CC
3 Terry Ferris, Murphy-Gunn CC
Unp. Vet: Martin Thompson, Murphy Gunn CC
Unp. Junior: Michael Daly, McNally Swords CC

Ladies
1 Caroline Kearney, McNally Swords CC
2 Julie 0’Hagan, Dublin Whlrs All Systems
<Link to Race report on both races on Club website>

Racing Season 2005: The committee are planning to provide back up for the racers for certain open races in the 2005 season. If you are available to support the team, contact the chairperson of the club

A season in review..........where do I start!!!! By Hugh Byrne
A season in review..............where do I start !!!!!!! I suppose a good place to start is with the ‘young guns’ as this is where the future of the club in top flight racing terms lies. Our league has been a launching pad for quite a few of our younger riders. This year our Club League saw another two young riders, Michael Daly & Stephen Halpin, battle it out all the way to the line each pushing each other to new levels and finishing 1st & 2nd with Stephen taking the honours. These two combined and with the help of Grace took an All Ireland Gold in the team classification in the U/age National C/ship w/end of racing. Michael also added a Silver at U16 in the Leinster C/ship a Bronze in the All Ireland on the Track.
Both Sean Rock & James Whelan pitted themselves against the best in Europe in the Junior Tour. McNally Swords CC had three riders guesting and all did quite well in a field comprised mostly of ‘savage’ foreigners !!!. . (And in case any of ye oldies are out of touch ‘savage’ in todays parlance means awesome ) James Whelan place 19th overall (4th Irish); Derek Burke 16th (3rd Irish); Shane O’Halloran 26th (6th Irish); Urban Monks 64th. As Sean only decided to ride the tour two weeks prior to the event he rode with the Meath team along side Stephen McKenna (Stam MD) with placed 42nd overall and Stephen placing 35th.
We have already seen what Sean & Keith are capable of but lately we have witnessed the emergence of James Whelan who has improved hugely this year adding some great road results to his time trial achievements. This year he won the Club Road Race C/ship in some style and added the 25 Shield for good measure and donned the Green Jersey in Ras Connachta. He then went on to take two Gold & two Silvers at Junior in the All Ireland Track Championships despite crashing heavily in qualifying. Next stop the National Time Trial C/ship in Killorglan when he won the Junior title by a convincing margin. Much credit goes to his family who support him in everything he does and to his coach Aidan Hammond. James follows Aidans advice to the letter, as he puts it because he ‘peaks everytime Aidan tells him he will’.
Other recent Medal winners were Sean Rock (J) , and Fergus Ryan (C) both taking respective Silvers at the Leinster C/ships. Adriaan & Alister have been upgraded to B Cat while Gearoid ploughs a lonely furrow with A's. Indeed Alister finaly tasted victory, after being so close so often this season, when he won the final race of our club league,
Also great to see our regular visitors doing well  with Nathan (Les Jeune) 1st Vet, Gerard Cromwell  (Stam MD) 1st B and Darren McMahon (Cycleways) 1st C on a w/end where we had a 1-2 in the Juniors &  Ladies with James , Sean , Grace & Coleen.
In the Vets Sean Lally & Karl Naylor were won the A and B races in the IVCA Memorial Cups on the day that Fred Harte sealed overall victory in the IVCA League. Indeed we nearly had a clean sweep in the Vets as Dave Blake was beaten into 2nd spot in the C race by an ex All Ireland Track Sprint Champion. Karl has 4 wins up in the Vets todate (all since he joined our club I might add!!) placed third in the Tuesday League. Sean has 4 road wins, and fastest in the Alfresco 25 and winner of the 50 mile TT Championship. Fred has knocked lumps off his previous TT times and posted a 63 in the 25 and a 2:05:43 in the 50 which must make his the most improved rider in the IVCA. I also must mention Pat Halpin getting his first road win in a race which himself and Anto worked the tactics down to a tee to get a Swords 1-2 in the IVCA (40-49) C/ship (a race won by Anto last year). Report on this race on our website. <Link to Report on this race on our website>
As a club we also probably have more ladies than any other club with many of them competed in the Ladies league and four of them Grace, Emma, Caroline & Coleen recently took on an International Field the TQ Papers 2 Day in the colours of Leinster and on the Ireland B team.On the Triathlon scene we have had quite a few results from Brian Crinnion, who organised (.....and won a few) of the Dublin City Duathlon Series races. Good results also from Emma Quirke & Rachel Beck while Caroline Kearney competed abroad this year on the Grand Prix circuit with much success, and I look forward to the day when she unleashes herself on the domestic cycle racing scene!!!! On the Tandem scene we have 'Pilots', Bernie McNally and new member Ian Mahon and I have reports posted by both Bernie and Ian on the website. Indeed Ian is representing Ireland as a 'Pilot' in the Athens Para-Olympics in Tandem Track Racing.
This year we have had a huge influx of new members, some new to cycling, some returning after a few years and many from the world of triathlon. All seem to have settled well into our League and have gone from strength to strength. The League has brought many of them up to open race standard and in recent weeks there have been many new faces in Swords Jerseys in the Cycling Ireland events. Keep up the training over the winter and I look forward to writing about your successes next year!!!!!