Lakeside Wheelers To Host Elite National Time Trial Championships

Lakeside Wheelers’ reputation as one of the premier organisers of top level bike racing in Ireland has been cemented even further in recent weeks with the news that the club has been selected by Cycling Ireland to stage one of the biggest races on the calendar this year.

The National Road Racing Championships is the biggest race of the year held over three days and it incorporates the National Time Trial Championships for elite ladies, men and paracycling. Lakeside Wheelers will be hosting the Time Trial events on the evening of Thursday, June 26th while Navan Road Club will stage the Road Race events on the following Saturday and Sunday, 28th and 29th June. The division of the Nationals between two clubs marks a new approach to the staging of this very important weekend of racing by Cycling Ireland as in the past it was generally hosted by one club. The Time Trial race will attract all of Ireland’s top cyclists including the World Tour professionals as they vie for the right to wear the National Champions jersey for the coming year, an honour currently held by Eddie Dunbar of Jayco Allula since he won it last year in Limerick.

Lakeside Wheelers race organisers are no strangers to staging some of the biggest races in Ireland with the club last holding the senior National Championships in 2014. This was a major success with many people in the Irish cycling community stating that it was the best Nationals ever so the knowledge and experience is in the club and it is expected the 2025 TT will be another big success.

The management at Kilbeggan Whiskey Distillery have very kindly come on board to facilitate the organisation of the event allowing their premises to be used as the event HQ, a gesture that the race organisers are extremely thankful for.

As well as the National Time Trial Championships, the club will also be running the other two big events normally associated with the club. The Tour of the Lakes sportive will be on Sunday, June 22nd while the Mullingar GP has a new date this year as it moves to Sunday, August 3rd. Both of these events have been on the club’s calendar for several years and no doubt, will once again attract some of the best cyclists in the country to Mullingar this summer.

The last few years have seen a big increase in numbers cycling and in turn, Lakeside Wheelers has become involved in several new cycling projects. Events such as National Bike Week, Her Outdoors Week, Sprocket Rocket , Cyclocross at Belvedere and of course the Midland League to name but a few will also be high on the committee’s agenda in 2025. Members are asked to mark all of the above dates in their diaries and to assist with the running of these events if possible.

Biking Blitz

Round two of the mountain bike league, Biking Blitz took place in Ballyhoura last Sunday. Lakeside Wheelers was represented by Peter Rimmer and Richie Lenehan and Stuart Cox. Peter and Richie took part in the Expert category with Stuart entering the Novice race. Richie had a great outing in challenging weather conditions as he finished in 10th place with Peter just outside the top twenty. Stuart repeated his feat from round one by once again claiming 3rd place in his race. Well done lads, great racing.

Road Racing

Last weekend saw the start of the 2025 road racing season with two consecutive days of racing in Leinster. Summerhill was the location on Saturday for the Dublin Wheelers race which saw Neil McDermott of Lakeside Wheelers take a good finish in the C2 category coming home inside the first 15 riders. On Sunday it was the turn of Navan Road Club to host the Seamus Kennedy series of races and once again, Neil took to the start line. This time he had Richie Lenehan for company and the two lads put in big rides with Richie finishing in 22nd and Neil in 30th. This was a great showing from the two lads at this early stage of the season so well done to both of them.

Membership

With the evenings getting longer and hopefully the weather getting kinder this is the perfect time to get back on the bike if you have been on a winter break. Everyone is reminded that membership for 2025 is now overdue so please update by registering on the Cycling Ireland website and use the Membership tab to complete the process.