Lakeside Wheelers Members Brave The Weather For Pat Jones Memorial

Last Saturday, the Edenderry based 905 cycling club staged the annual Pat Jones Memorial sportive. This was the nominated sportive for Lakeside Wheelers members for 2025 which meant that the entry fee for all members that attended was covered by the club.

Despite a terrible forecast of rain, rain and more rain it wasn’t too bad on the day and a grand total of 21 Lakeside Wheelers members braved the damp, cold conditions and signed on for the 90km spin. The route is more or less the same each year bringing riders on a circuit from Edenderry to Enfield, Kinnegad, Rochfortbridge, Tyrellspass, Croughan Hill and back to Edenderry. Once back at base there was no shortage of delicious refreshments, a feature which the 905 club are renowned for. The funds raised on the day are divided out between a few local charities so the Pat Jones is always a great day out for a great cause.

Lakeside Wheelers committee would like to pay tribute to the organisers for doing a great job in difficult conditions and well done to all our members that participated and represented the club so well.

Racing

One of Ireland’s premier stage races was held over the Easter weekend in Co. Kerry. The Dornan Ras Mumhan is a staple of the Irish road racing scene for many years now and is traditionally staged around the roads of the Kingdom every Easter. Comprising of four stages, starting on Good Friday and ending with a fast, circuit based race around Kenmare on Easter Monday, Ras Mumhan is most famous for the very hilly Killarney stage which brings the race south to Valentia Island and one of Ireland’s steepest climbs, Coomanaspic Pass.

Lakeside Wheelers member Padraig Moran joined forces with Bohermeen Cycling Club for this event and managed to complete the race even though he had a rough experience on Stage one. Friday evening’s 70km stage was run off in cold, torrential rain which left Padraig and a few others, with a reduced body temperature so severe that they required medical attention after the stage. Thankfully, this was resolved very quickly and Padraig was able to start stage two on Easter Saturday. However, recovering from the after effects of hypothermia is not ideal race preparation which meant that Padraig spent the remainder of the race digging in and ensuring he stayed with the main peloton while using the final two stages as training. Despite all this and to his credit, he managed to hold his place mid peloton going into the final stage on Easter Monday and found the events of the weekend a great learning experience and is already looking forward to the next race.

Midland League

The 2025 Midland League (MiL) starts next Thursday with a Time Trial event in Horseleap. This is a fantastic local league run by several midlands clubs with Shannonside, Lakeside Wheelers, Tullamore, Longford and Laois being the main players in the organisation committee. Anyone intending to compete in this year’s MiL should register ASAP if you have not already done so as the organising committee will need to know how many riders are in before mid week. Lakeside Wheelers will, as usual, host two rounds which will be on the Dalystown circuit on May 8th and July 17th. Peter Rimmer is the Lakeside Wheelers representative on the committee this year so check in with Pete if you have any queries and best of luck to everyone taking part. Start time next Thursday is 7pm.

PS Well done to club Lifetime members, Caoimhe and Aoife O’Brien who spent their Easter Sunday racing the Elite Ladies Amstel Gold race in the Netherlands. This is one of the top one day races in the world and forms part of the famous, Ardennes Classics. The girls were in very good company as all of the top female riders in the world were racing so once again, congrats girls and well done.

Sportives

Next weekend the Donegal Bay sportive will be held on Saturday, April 26th and is a favourite of Lakeside Wheelers members over the last few years. This is one for the climbers with the day seeing riders tackle a 140km route and a whopping 2300m of vertical ascent. There are two other route options on the day with a 100km (1500m ascent) and 50km respectively. All routes will meander along the Wild Atlantic Way with the longer version dipping into the Blue Stack Mountains, so, some fabulous scenery is to be expected. There will most likely be a few members travelling to God’s Country for this event so keep an eye on the WhatsApp chat groups for further information.

Beginners

Don’t forget the Couch to 50k programme which is currently underway so, if you know of anyone who might wish to take up cycling this is the ideal initiative. Check the website for more details.