2016 Friends First Laragh Classic NOW OPEN

ocisorrenta

Fellow riders,

The Friends First Laragh Classic on Sunday, September 11 is now open for entries for all categories of riders, and will again incorporate the Leinster Championships.

There will be three races - A1/A2, A3, A4 - with generous sponsorship from Friends First, increased for a second year in succession to present a €300 cash prize to the first placed rider in the main event.

The course, inspired by Europe's one-day classics, will be exactly the same as last year, featuring technical descents, plenty of climbing and variable surfaces.

Entry costs €12.50 on the early bird and opens today. We would advise anyone keen to take it on to enter early as the startlists were filled well before the closing date in 2015.

ONLINE ENTRY OPEN

Further details can be found at the Friends First Laragh Classic homepage

We hope to see you in September

dermabrasion

THE RACE OF THE FALLING WATER

Derrydingle

ocisorrenta wrote:

The course, inspired by Europe's one-day classics, will be exactly the same as last year, featuring technical descents, plenty of climbing and variable surfaces.

Sounds a interesting course, what kind of surfaces are we talking about?

daragh_

Derrydingle wrote: »

Sounds a interesting course, what kind of surfaces are we talking about?

Apologies for not replying sooner.

Typical Wicklow backroad stuff. The section after the main climb is narrow, twisty and fast. The road has been treated recently but it deserves your full attention at race pace, particularly if it's wet on the day.

Entries are filling up nicely - we would advise anyone interested to enter online if at all possible. The 2016 Race Book will be ready soon.

Plastik

CI rules changed this year and one day licences are applicable again for all races from 1st Aug to end of season, will they be available for the Laragh Classic?

daragh_

Plastik wrote: »

CI rules changed this year and one day licences are applicable again for all races from 1st Aug to end of season, will they be available for the Laragh Classic?

Good question. Will have an answer for you shortly.

daragh_

Plastik wrote: »

CI rules changed this year and one day licences are applicable again for all races from 1st Aug to end of season, will they be available for the Laragh Classic?

I can confirm that one day licences will be available.

Matt Bianco

What category should IVCA members on one day licences enter for?

wav1

Matt Bianco wrote: »

What category should IVCA members on one day licences enter for?

The commissaire is supposed to categorise one day licence holders accordingly on the day.

daragh_

Please be advised that there are two important changes to our Laragh Classic Race programme this Sunday, 11th September.

1) There will not be a stand alone A3/Junior Race (Martin Vereker Memorial) this year. Entries for this race will now be combined with A1/A2 entries and we will have one (handicapped) race for these three categories of rider on the day.

The A4 race will remain a stand alone event.

Please note that the allocation of Leinster Championship prizes will be unaffected by the above change. The top 3 A1, A2, A3, Junior, Veteran and Lady riders will all receive medals.

2) The start time for the two races (A1-3/J & A4) has been brought forward from 11am to 10am. Sign on will open for both races at 8am.

We may be able to accept a limited number of entries on the day however pre-entry is advised to guarantee your place. If we reach our upper limit of riders (80) in the A1-A3 race in advance of this Friday evening, which is looking quite likely at present, we will close entries for this race at that point and there will be no additional entries available on the day.

We do apologise for these late changes, however they are entirely necessary to ensure the safety of all riders and the smooth running of our event.

We are working closely with the local Garda in the lead up to our event on Sunday and would like to thank them for their continued input.

Kind regards

St. Tiernan's CC

daragh_

Video of the full route.

timbel

so whats the story with the distance for the handicap race?
Is it 4.5 laps?

daragh_

timbel wrote: »

so whats the story with the distance for the handicap race?
Is it 4.5 laps?

The A3s will now race with the A1/A2s in a single, handicapped race over a distance of 3.5 laps

Pablo Rubio

A1,2,3, together.... after all the crashes in handicapped races I just about escaped this year, looks like beer season starts one week earlier than expected for me.

rigal

Pablo Rubio wrote: »

A1,2,3, together.... after all the crashes in handicapped races I just about escaped this year, looks like beer season starts one week earlier than expected for me.

The Race is capped by the organisers at 80 riders. Don't let the handicap, or previous experiences at events with larger fields, put you off.

AlreadyHome

As I've never raced in Ireland before, could someone advise on entry details? I'm a bit confused about one day CI licence etc.

Thanks for any help!

daragh_

AlreadyHome wrote: »

As I've never raced in Ireland before, could someone advise on entry details? I'm a bit confused about one day CI licence etc.

Thanks for any help!

You can buy a one day licence on the day - however the numbers for each race are capped at 80 and it's filling up very fast. If you want to enter online to ensure a spot put an N/A in the section where it asks for your number I'll flag it on the sheet. You can also PM me your details and any other questions - assuming you've raced abroad so you can let me know what cat you are etc. Hope that helps.

jntsnk

what type of camera are you using, cool stuff!

daragh_

We have 70+ in each race and are capping the numbers at 80 - Online Registration will close in the next few hours.

it is therefore likely that there will be only a very small number of entries available on the day - if any.

daragh_

jntsnk wrote: »

what type of camera are you using, cool stuff!

Think it's a Virb. Will ask the lads.

Edit - It's a GoPro

daragh_

More video goodness - now with Power. Sure why wouldn't you want to race this? Cheers Dazzler!

daragh_

Full results for Friends First Laragh Classic 2016

1 Connor Hennebry AquaBlue
2 Sean Lacey Aqua Blue
3 Philip Lavery Baque Cc
4 Mateo Cigala AquaBlue
5 Dermot Trulock Lucan
6 Cathal Purcell Carrick Wheelers - KOH
7 Ryan Sherlock UA
8 Conn McDunphy Lucan
9 Ian Richardson UCD
10 Jamie Blanchfield Hennebont Cyclisme

daragh_

Your 2016 Leinster Champions*
*minus vets (will follow)

Leinster Championships A2
1 Ciaran Handley Swords
2 Cillian Whelan DID
3 Fergus Fagan Navan

Leinster Championships A3
1 Damien Donlon Swords
2 Conor Murnane Scott Orwell
3 Brendan Kiernan Lakeside Wheelers

Leinster Championships Juniors
1 Eoin Byrne Scott Orwell
2 Cian Keogh SERC

Leinster Championships A1
1 Philip Lavery
2 Mateo Cigala
3 Dermot Trulock

(there is no A4 category for Leinster Championships)

daragh_

Full results for Laragh Classic A4
A4
1 Calum O'Toole Scott Orwell - first bike race!
2 David McKevitt Swords
3 Cormac O'Connor St. Tiernan's CC
4 Philip White Wexford Wheelers
5 Wayne Byrne SERC
6 Martin Deevy Naas
KOH Aidan McKenna Bray

Wishbone Ash

Great day for McNally Swords CC - A2 1st, A3 1st and A4 2nd.

Well done Ciaran, Damien and David. :cool:

RobertFoster

I thought it was a fantastic race today, I really enjoyed the circuit. The capped number of riders made me feel safer compared to earlier races with huge fields. Shame about the crash in the last 500m of the A4 race, hopefully nothing too serious.

Excellent organisation by daragh_ and everyone else in St. Tiernan's (I particularly liked the brownies afterwards :pac:)

daragh_

2016 Vets Leinster Champions
1 John Lee Trim
2 Mark Murphy Bray Wheelers
3 Jamie Buster Scott Orwell

daragh_

RobertFoster wrote: »

I thought it was a fantastic race today, I really enjoyed the circuit. The capped number of riders made me feel safer compared to earlier races with huge fields. Shame about the crash in the last 500m of the A4 race, hopefully nothing too serious.

Excellent organisation by daragh_ and everyone else in St. Tiernan's (I particularly liked the brownies afterwards :pac:)

Cheers! All the really hard work is done by our Race Directors Brian Hayden and Richard Gallagher. There would be no race without them!

Thanks to everyone who entered. Some amazing talent on show today.

Arthurdaly

Thanks to St Tiernans for another great event. It's very difficult to keep the training and motivation until September for this event but it's worth it. Brilliantly run event and I felt safe out there.

CramCycle

daragh_ wrote: »

Cheers! All the really hard work is done by our Race Directors Brian Hayden and Richard Gallagher. There would be no race without them!

Thanks to everyone who entered. Some amazing talent on show today.

Daragh_ undersells himself. The race organisers are fantastic and do huge amounts of work, but they do delegate alot of things to people and Daragh is among a group within Tiernans without whom the likes of the Laragh Classic would not happen.

I am one of those ****ty members who turns up to marshall, eats cake and then does a runner once my obligations are cleared up.

This said, I do want to figure out the mimimum amount of work i have to do in the club to get to ride it, it is a race to tick off the list.

JK.BMC

Enjoyed today; well done to St Tiernans as organising this race/route is quite a challenge. I really like the race concept, a 'classic' race with capped entry meaning the club isn't hell bent on making money; choosing a route that definitely leads to splits and small grupettos; and not afraid to use bumpy twisty narrow horrible roads- sure isnt Ireland full of them. It's the type of racing that needs to promoted more often- you get this down in Connacht out 'wesht' and it produces fantastic riding and racing. Capped entry is the way to go.
One poor unfortunate lady driver came upon the A4 race and decided to stop her car in the middle of the road and have a minor meltdown. All riders coped fine; it just goes to show that with open roads, riders have to be prepared for anything and everything