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Eoin Morton has made club history by taking third in today’s edition of the Shay Elliot memorial, one of the most challenging and historically significant one day classics in the country. Not only does Eoin’s third place rank him as the highest ever finisher for the club at this race but also has echoes of his fathers win at the same race in 1979. Previous podium finishers in the race include international professional riders such as Rás mountains jersey winner Dan Craven, multiple national champion David McCann and the King of the classics Sean Kelly.

As has been a staple of recent racing high winds were a factor in the race making any move difficult to stay away. Ian, Eoin and Con were given the task of getting up the road, with Ciaran and first year student Sean McKenna kept in reserve incase the group stayed together coming into the infamous glenmalure climb 100km into the race. The UCD riders were on the attack from the gun with only Ian getting any substantial gap and was left out on his own with no more than a 10 seconds ahead of the bunch in the opening stages of the race.

As the peloton exited off the N11 dual carriageway splits started to occur in the bunch with nothing getting to far away. The elastic countinued to stretch and contract well into the race with Eoin putting in more than his fair share of big attacks. 90km into the race and only 15km from the base of the cat 1 climb the elastic eventually snapped with Eoin going clear with strong group including Rás mumhan winner Damian Shaw and multiple race winner Connor Murphy.

Back in the main group Con had a mechanical problem and went back to the car for assisstance, however on his journey back to the peloton he crashed into the team car going head first through the rear windscreen, he was rushed to hospital but came out unscathed.

As the peloton approached glenmalure, Sean showed true cycling wisdom and kept himself near the front of the group and clung to the coat-tails of a chase group which eventually caught Eoin’s lead group, unluckily the young rider suffered a puncture and with the team car being put out of commission courtesy of Con, was left without assistance for some time. Ian missed the chase group suffering from his early attackes with Ciaran also missing the split.

Eoin hit the base of the glenmalure in a lead group of twenty, which was blown apart over the climb. Eoin was distanced by the eurocycles duo of Thomas Martin and Conor Murphy as well as Damian Shaw and carrick wheelers Martin Mizgayski, but rocketed down the descent, nearly over cooking a few corners and shouted at himself to push on.

He regained contact with Shaw and Mizgayski but the two eurocycles riders had already rode clear and would stay out until the finish to take and impressive one two. Eoin took the sprint with ease against Shaw and Mizgayski and has now marked himself as one of the great classics riders of the future.

Photography and video interview courtesy of Black Umbrella photography. Thanks to Bray wheelers for organizing a great event, Noel for driving and subsequently having the team car smashed and for Jason who drove Con to the hospital.

Eoin’s post race interview

Four UCD riders tackled the Tour of Ulster last weekend a key form builder for the upcoming An Post Rás. Con Collis, Eoin Morton, Ian Richardson and Barrick Parker made the trip up to Maghera with Jason, Ross and new arrival to the crew Deidre who was the teams soigneur for the weekend.
The first stage saw the riders cover 120km tackling 4 categorized climbs. With the day being a split stage with a time trial that evening the plan was for Con and Ian to save their legs for the evening where the chance of a stage win was a real possibility, Barrick and Eoin were then given the difficult duty of getting up the road. With strong winds being a constant factor in races recently stage one was no different, strong headwinds and cross winds made it difficult for groups to get away. Massive splits in the peloton occured a number of times but it wasn’t until the third climb of the day that a group went clear with eventual stage winner and currently cyclocross national champion Roger Aiken. The wind and aggressive racing took it’s tole on Eoin and Barrick and came in 8 minutes down, with Ian and Con riding in fresh 4 mins off the stage winner.
Stage two came along late in the day starting at 6pm with the UCD riders being some of the last riders to set off. Ian coming second in this stage last year was intensely focused on the win and was seen meditating before his warm up. The early fast time was set by East Tyrones Gary Jeffers in a time of 03’50.24″ over the very short 2.8km course. A strong headwind marred the course owing to more aerodynamic riders. Jeffers time held as the fastest time until Ian obliterated his time coming in 11 seconds faster in a time of 03’39.04″ taking the stage win, Con Collis was a very close second coming in 3 seconds down. Eoin also put in a very good time coming 15th in a time of 04’00” one place ahead of ex national veteran TT champ and professional Greg Swinard, not bad for a man who only saw the bike he rode that day. Roger Aiken lost his grip on the yellow jersey loosing 20 seconds to Aquablue rider Tim Barry.

Stage three traversed 125km following the same route as the Tour of Armagh. Wind was again a factor in the race and with a stage win on the books for the team confidence was high. A big group of 10 riders got away early including UCD’s Richardson along with two of the yellow jerseys team mates who sat on an refused to ride with the break. This group was soon met by a ten man chase group including a GC man from eurocycles, Frazer Duncan and two more aquablue riders. Back in the main peloton the yellow jersey of Tim Barry was becoming increasingly isolated with his team mates tracking chase groups and riding away. Roger Aiken saw a chink in aquablue’s armor and put in a series of devastating attacks eventually riding away from Barry on the run in to the cat 1 of Keady Mountain. Up in the break the attacks were also coming hard and fast with 6 riders going clear including Richardson, Damian Shaw, Sean Lacey, Adam Armstrong, Bryan McCrystal and Javan Nulty. A strong pace set by Nulty saw Ian distanced on the climb and he was eventually enveloped by the large chase group behind which now contained the GC contenders of Chris Reilly and Roger Aiken. A fierce pace was set again by Aiken and Reilly up the cat 2 of Deadmans hill saw Ian distanced again from the chase group effectively ending his race. The chase group would eventually catch the small break away with another group going clear including eventual stage winner Joe Fenlon who also took the yellow jersey. The stage was incredibly tough with groups strewn all along the course. Con and Eoin were the best place UCD men on the stage coming in 23rd and 25th respectively.

Stage 4 saw the peloton taking on a grueling 140km race covering 6 laps through Swatragh and 6 passes over the steep and challenging Matty’s Brae. With nothing to loose and lessons learnt from the previous stage the UCD boys went into stage 4 all guns blazing. All four men were very active in the open act of the stage. A big group of 10 riders got away in the first 10km including two aquablue riders, opening a gap of 35 seconds very quickly. Con and Eoin put in massive attacks trying to bridge across but were reeled in, Ian countered a strong move by Eoin and put his skills from stage 2 to use and bridged the gap to the leading riders. With a stage already in the bag Ian was able to get a free ride on the break which gained a maximum gap on the main peloton of 2 mins. Aquablue rider Sean Lacey puncture out of the break, easing the grip Aquablue had on the escapees.  The break worked well for 100km before riders legs started to give way and riders began missing turns. Stamullen cc’s Collin Robinson being virtual yellow on the road couldn’t afford to hang around with the gap quickly dropping to under a minute as the Aquablue riders frantically chased the escapees down. Robinson attacked out of the break on the fourth pass over Matty’s Brae and was quickly joined by Ian. The two Meath riders worked well together putting in a gap of 35 seconds into the break by the top of Matty’s Brae. However the Aquablue train were hot on their heels but the two riders held the gap for another 20km putting the Aquablue team under sever pressure. The peloton caught the final two escapees on the penultimate pass over Matty’s Brae. With Aquablue having lost most of their riders chasing down the break their grip on the yellow jersey was loosening, as attackes came hard and fast over the climb. On the final pass two riders from the Louth county team, Roger Aiken and Bryan McCrystal went clear with Aquablue rider Damian Shaw, however shaw dropped back to aid his team mate Fenlon who was now completely isolated and was forced to chase down Aiken on his own. Con and Eoin tracked the front of the pack perfectly and made it over the final climb in prime position for a stage result. Aiken and McCrystal stayed out to finish 1st and 2nd. With Con taking the bunch sprint for third with ease.

Another impressive ride by the UCD men who continue to rise the profile of the club. Thanks has to be given the Cairn wheelers who admirably took up the organization of the race, and who put on one of the most professional run races that the club has experienced. And as always thanks to team manager/direteur sportif/team principal/and tactician Jason, mechanic Ross and Dee Quinn who did a great job as soigneur on her first time in the role.