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| All Ireland Youth Championships 11 & 12th July 2009 Arklow, County Wicklow Report by Zak Hanna. South East Road Club promoted the prestigious All Ireland Youth Championships in the seaside town of Arklow and its surrounding area. Two riders from Dromara Cycling Club went down to the event, Christopher Weir and Zak Hanna who joined almost 130 other riders from all over Ireland. It was an early start on Saturday morning, leaving at 6am, with the first race of the day at 10am. When we arrived in Arklow we headed up to the sign on headquarters located at Arklow Rocks Parnells GAA club on the outskirts of the town. Once we got our race numbers and programmes we headed up to the start. The Time Trial was the first race to be contested and was run according to age group. The under 11s went first, followed by the under 12s etc with the under 16s finishing it off. Christopher Weir was competing first as he was in the under 13s and Zak was in the under 14s. Each rider was set off at two minute intervals as the officials didn’t want anyone to get caught. The weather was dull and damp but that didn’t put anyone off and when Chris and Zak were finished, they got changed and headed back to the hotel. They stayed in the Arklow Bay Hotel and got some well earned rest before the criterium which started at 3:30pm the same day. The criterium was held on almost the same road as the time trial and the circuit was a short 0.9 mile loop with absolutely no hills at all! As it was forecasted, the rain did no one a favour by pelting down like bullets, leaving deep floods on the roads in the process. The under 13s had 7 laps in which the peloton stayed together until the second lap when around six riders went on a break with Chris in a small group of 4 or 5 riders. On the final straight Chris rode away from the other riders to finish about 20 seconds behind the main bunch. The under 14s also completed 7 laps. The rain came on even heavier and most people were soaked before they even got racing! When the whistle blew, Zak got straight to the front to try and lead the bunch to the first corner. He was passed a few times and on approaching the corner a group of three riders crossed the white lines on the road, wheels slipped and they went down in a big pile up. Zak was lucky enough to avoid it, perhaps using his mountain biking skills to help avoid the danger! When Zak got dropped he caught a two man group and together started working in a slipstream. On the final straight a young lad from Newbridge CC and Zak broke away and crossed the line together. It was too wet for a sprint finish. With two races finished for the day, it was back to the hotel for a relaxing dip in the swimming pool and a nice meal for good measure. On the Sunday the road race was the final order of the weekend and was held around a 3.6 mile loop which included long, twisty descents and a very long steep hill, known to many as Alpe’du Inch because of its steepness and length. Chris had to complete 3 laps and was with the bunch on the first lap but then started to work with three other riders, dropping them every time on the hill and on the last lap he left them all and sprinted towards the line which was a hill-top finish. The under 14s also had 3 laps and Zak's bunch had about 38 riders in it with all of them towering over Zak. At the start when everyone was getting clipped in, a few bikes banged together and caused a crash, but Zak was again fortunate enough to be in front of it. Zak kept on getting dropped on the descents but a small group of two joined together with him and they worked until the final corner when two of them broke away, making it every man for himself in the hill with Zak coming out on top. After the racing was finished, everyone headed back to the GAA club for food and prize giving. After a small delay everyone who completed the championships received a nice certificate, so everyone got something to take home. Zak said "All in all the weekend was amazing. We will definitely come back next year, hopefully getting a medal next time!" Zak added "A big thank you must go to Darren Weir and dad (Derek Hanna) for driving us down, looking after the mechanical stuff, and for the support throughout the weekend." | Photos by Derek Hanna     |
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