The Bronze medal ride off in the Junior sprint was deferred until today due to the bad weather last weekend as were the rideoff for all three medals in the senior sprint. Recent winner of the Cycleways Track League, Keith Bannon, took the bronze against Brian Taffe. The final was run as a best of three with Mark Colbert taking the first leg against the rider who had posted the fastest time in the qualiiers.The first lap was tense affair lead out by Mark who eventually forced Kieran to the front on the back straight. He tried to lead it from the front but with the element of surprise now negated, he was unable to shake off Mark who squeezed past on the home straight. Round 2 now started with the pre race favourite one leg down, and drawn to lead out the next leg. However Mark had sucess with dictating the base in round 1 and perhaps wanted to do the same in round 2, went to the front and took Kieran on a meandering lap at a tactically slow pace. This time however Kieran kept a respectful distance and refused to be forced or tempted to the front until he was ready. A massive jump on the back straight gave him the slightest of gaps, but enough to make his pure speed tell. One all. Round 3 of this battle of wits & skill saw Mark once again drawn to lead it out. Another tactical lap by the Murphy Gunn rider trying to force the mistake, while Kieran Leahy refused to be drawn and used his positional advantage to launch another blistering sprint. A final worthy of the competition with all that is great about track sprinting on display by both riders.  

Hugh Byrne