Madigan GP 02-08-08

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Preview of the 2008 Madigan GP




Coming soon.... 02-08-08


SOX
Team Madigan

[SOX!]

20th Madigan Grand Prix this Saturday
This Saturday 2nd August at 11.00am, Kilroot, Team Madigan Cycling Club will promote the 20th running of the tough Madigan Cycles Grand Prix for Senior, Veteran, Junior, and Lady riders. Last year Martyn Irvine of Ards Cycling Club won the challenging event after 55.5-miles of racing on the hilly circuit. It was a sprint for the finish line between Irvine, Matthew Ward (Usher IRC) and Cathal Smyth (Phoenix CC) with Irvine taking it from Ward by only half a wheel and Smyth three metres behind. The chasing bunch were 2-minutes 18 seconds behind. The event which will have been run in Carrickfergus for 20-years by Team Madigan Cycling Club is again kindly sponsored to the tune of £500 by Ronnie McKeegan proprietor of Madigan Pro Bike Centre in Carrickfergus. This is also Ronnie's 20th year sponsoring the event!

Last year there were several breaks on the first lap, however it was not until lap 2 of the 3 that a group of 10 broke away, Irvine, Ward and Smyth then broke clear from this group, and soon opened a 1-minute gap on the seven who were later caught by the main bunch. At the bell going into the last lap Ward, Irvine and Smyth were still working hard together as the gap remained at 1-minute on the bunch. So determent were the three to stay clear, they opened the gap to 2-minutes as they reached the Lizard climb at Glynn and with only the Seven Sisters climb to come. Over the top of the Seven Sisters they were still going away from the chasing bunch, the gap was opening and at the finish line at Kilroot it was 2.18. Martyn Irvine took the sprint, Matthew Ward was a very close second and Cathal Smyth third. Richard Waters (Harps CC) won the bunch sprint for 4th place. Liam Curran (SiS.com) was 5th and Sean Downey (Banbridge CC) was 6th. Gordon Scott (East Antrim-Audi) was 7th and first unplaced Veteran, while his team mates Gary Cranston and Jim McConnell were 8th and 9th. David Mulholland (Apollo RT) was 10th; Conor McAllister (Ballymena, Scotts) was 11th and first unplaced Second Cat. John Kennedy (Apollo RT) was 12th and Thomas Martin (Clann Eireann) was 13th and first Junior. James McMaster (Northern CC / Dave Kane) was 14th and Mel McCann (Team Madigan) was 15th. Mel took the Tony Purnell Cup for being the first Madigan rider in the race.

Rider of the race was Matthew Ward, the Crumlin man was in all the breakaways right from the start of the race. He took both the tough Seven Sisters primes on laps 1 and 2 and finished runner-up overall making him the highest prize money earner on the day.

Team Madigan Cycling Club wish to thank Mr Ronnie McKeegan for his kind sponsorship of the race once again. We look forward to welcoming competitors from all over Ireland and hope they enjoy this challenging race!

SOX
Team Madigan

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Here is the video from todays race...




SOX
Team Madigan

[Deek]

Great video Sox. Love the Kasabian track.If i do it next year can i pick my own music??? ;D