Martin Ayres
CHARLES Prendergast followed his fourth place in the recent national U-23 championship with an emphatic victory in Sunday’s Connacht championship on the Hungry Rock circuit at Colloony, Co Sligo.
The 100-kilometre event produced plenty of action with Donal Harrington (Western Lakes), Ciaran Clarke (Castlebar CC) and Rory Conroy (Castlebar CC) breaking away from the peloton right from the start.
The 17-kilometre circuit included a testing climb which was the springboard for a six-man chasing group, including Prendergast (Cunga CC) and David Brennan (Castlebar CC) to go clear and move across to join the three breakaways
Third time up the climb Prendergast put in an attack with Galway’s Mike Ryder and Jonathan Gibson. This proved to be the race-winning move. The trio stayed clear to the finish, where Prendergast sprinted home five seconds clear of second placed Ryder to claim the title.
Brennan was active in the race and came home fourth. Harrington’s aggressive riding earned him seventh spot overall and first A3 finisher.
With the National Junior Tour starting in Castlebar on July 10, two local prospects, Jason Prendergast (Cunga CC) and Liam Corcoran (Castlebar CC) placed second and third in the junior category, which was won by the impressive Thomas Fallon (Seven Springs).
Two days earlier, Charles Prendergast had gone into the national criterium championship at Mullingar with high hopes after winning the Galway Crit recently. “I was going well and with two laps to go put in a big effort, but was caught just before the finish. It was disappointing,” said Prendergast. The title was won by UK–based Felix English.
Connacht championships: 1, Charles Prendergast, Cunga CC; 2, Mike Ryder, Galway Bay CC; 3, Jonathon Gibson, unattached; 4, David Brennan, Castlebar CC; 5, Liam Frawley, Galway Bay CC; 6, Ciaran Clarke, Castlebar CC; 7, Donal Harrington, Western Lakes; 8, Thomas Fallon, Seven Springs; 9, Brian Martin, Seven Springs; 10, Gareth McCormick, Castlebar CC.
County championship on Srah circuit
A NEW event on the local cycling calendar, the Mayo county road race championships, takes place tomorrow (Wednesday) over six laps of the five-mile Srah circuit.
Sign-on is at 6.45pm at the hall in Partry, the race starts at 7.30pm. It will be handicap event, open to categories A1, A2, A3, A4, U16, ladies and juniors. Refreshments and presentation afterwards in Partry hall.
