Mullingar cyclist Aoife O’Brien.

Mullingar cyclists in action at National Road Championships

Lakeside Wheelers were well represented by two riders at the national road championships which were held in Wicklow last weekend.

The young pair of Ruairí Woods and Mikey Flaherty lined out against a very strong field in the junior men’s race which was held on Saturday morning. No doubt both riders will have learned a huge amount from this experience and will come back all the better for their time in Wicklow. Well done to them both.

Over in the junior women’s race, ex Wheeler, Aoife O’Brien once again showed that she is supreme in her age category when she picked up another first place and gold medal.

Now racing for the Torelli-Assure club she entered a reduced field of only three riders. According to Aoife, this made the racing surprisingly tricky.

Although she tried to break up the race as much as possible by attacking on the hills she was caught on the flat sections and perhaps unsurprisingly the race eventually came down to a sprint. This was another wonderful result for a young lady who most definitely has a massive career ahead of her.

In the elite women’s race which was held on Saturday afternoon it was Caoimhe, the elder of the two O’Brien sisters, who lined out against the best women riders in the country. She did brilliantly, placing ninth against a very strong field of riders most of whom have been competing at these levels far longer than Caoimhe has.

Another ex-Wheeler in the shape of Aaron Wade competed in the men’s U23 TT (time trial). Aaron, who now rides for Powerhouse Sport, was competing against riders a few years older and that makes a massive difference at this level. Despite this, he still claimed a top ten placing. Aaron is another young man whose attitude and dedication to his sport will see him go far.