EIRE OG CYCLING CLUB

After 5 years on the shelf The Traders Cup cycle race made a welcome return to the racing calendar this weekend. The race was first held in 1966 and was won by Philip Mc Caffrey. The Traders Cup has a long and illustrious history on the Sligo cycling scene with many great riders graduating to greater things after winning the race. Most notable among these riders is Mark Scanlon who won the race in 1992 and went on to win the World Junior Cycling Championships in 1998. Mark also represented Ireland in the Olympic games and rode the Tour de France with the French AG2R professional cycling team.

This weekend another youngster with a bright cycling future beat the more experienced riders when Timothy Gallagher proved a worthy winner of the 2011 Traders Cup. The race was held on the Carraroe, Ballygawley, Ballintogher, Innisfree circuit. Weather conditions were challenging to say the least but that did not deter the enthusiasm of 35 hardy cyclists who lined up for the event. In a hevily loaded field 6 past winners of the event signed on in the hope of adding their name to the winners list once more. Mark Foley, Timmy Mc Carthy, Brian Sexton, Neill Walton, Michael Devins and Juan Carey all had their eye on the cup and had trained accordingly in the preceding weeks.

The race was run as a handicap event with 12 minutes separating the various groups. By Ballintogher Timothy Gallagher had emerged from his group and held a lead of 4 minutes over John Foy and Niall O Rourke. In the chasing groups Neill Walton and Michael Devins were riding hard and reducing the deficit to the leading riders. At the climb up from Innisfree Niall O Rourke left John Foy to fend for himself and set off in pursuit of young Gallagher and by the top had brought the gap down to 3 minutes. Foy bided his time and recovered well to overtake O Rourke again on the run in to the finish in Carraroe. While the chase was going on furiously behind Timothy Gallagher held his cool and rode alone to the finish and a well deserved victory with John Foy coming in next at 2 minutes. Next over the line was Niall O Rourke followed by Ciaran Clancy and Colette Hennigan coming home as first lady finisher.

It was great to see lots of new and old faces at the event and hopefully we will see them again for the 2012 Traders Cup. Notable performances on the day were from Ciara Conway, with Tom Ford and Brian Reilly providing the most entertaining finishing sprint. A big thanks to all the marshals on the day, without their great work there would have been no race.

Traders Cup 2011 Results
1 Timothy Gallagher
2 John Foy
3 Niall O Rourke
4 Ciaran Clancy
5 Collette Hennigan
6 Ronan Mc Namara

Ladies
1 Colette Hennigan
2 Ciara Conway

Division 1
1 Brian Sexton
2 Michael Devins
3 Paul Kehoe

Division 2
1 Ronan Mc Namara
2 Raymond Byrne
3 Alex Carey

Division 3
1 John Foy
2 Niall O Rourke
3 Ciaran Clancy

Division 4
1 Anthony Lynch
2 Eddy Ryan
3 Timmy Mc Carthy

Division 5
1 Trevor Mills
2 Tomas O Boyle
3 F`rancis Lyons

Past Winners Of The Traders Cup

1966 Philip Mc Caffrey
1967 Philip Mc Caffrey
1968 Francie Middleton
1969 Noel Davey
1970 Michael Higgins
1971 Michael Callaghan
1972 Val Harte
1973 Val Harte
1974 Anthony O Gorman
1975 Anthony O Gorman
1976 Gary Rooney
1977 Roger Smith
1978 Gary Rooney
1979 Paul Coyle
1980 Liam Coyle
1981 Declan Phelan
1982 Alan Egan
1983 Rory Mooney
1984 Sean Callagy
1985 Michael Devins
1986 Rory Mooney
1987 Turlough Mooney
1988 Brendan Leahy
1989 Richie Verdon
1990 Mark Foley
1991 Brian Sexton
1992 Mark Scanlon
1993 Ultan Geraghty
1994 Richard Middleton
1995 Paul Tansey
1996 Trevor Scanlon
1997 Paul Tansey
1998 Barry Scott
1999 Neill Walton
2000 Julian Rippon
2001 Timmy Mc Carthy
2002 Patrick Clarke
2003 Patrick Clarke
2004 ----
2005 ?
2006 Alex Carey
2007 ----
2008 ----
2009 ----
2010 ----
2011 Timothy Gallagher