Road National Series Round Five Preview
Action from Round Four of the 2023 Road National Series (Image: Inpho)
The leaders of the 2023 Road National Series have a huge opportunity to solidify their leads in the overall rankings as the fifth round of the series takes place on Sunday, June 11th.
And the beautiful roads of Kerry will be the battleground as the prestigious John Drumm Cup takes place, bringing riders through a demanding circuit around Currow, Castleisland and Scartaglin.
After some brilliant racing last weekend in the Sean Nolan Meath Grand Prix saw the senior men's and women's overall leader's jersey change hands, this weekend's race signals a huge chance for the leaders and chasers to gain vital points ahead of the final two rounds.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Round Five of the Road National Series:
The Route
Riders will take on a challenging 24km circuit as well as a relatively flat opening and closing 5km outside of the circuit.
The circuit itself is fairly flat for the opening ten kilometres, but features four short but sharp climbs over the rest of the circuit that is sure to mean that the strongest riders will make it to the finish first.
The men's race will take on five laps of the circuit as well as the start and finish, totaling 130km. The women's race will be three laps of the circuit as well as the start and the finish sections, making for a 82km course.
You can view the circuit profile here.
Race HQ And Start Time
The Race HQ is at Killeentierna Community Hall (Currow Hall) Currrow, Co Kerry V93 YV90
Races are scheduled to get underway from 11am (Women’s race) and 12.45pm (Men’s race).
Quotes Corner
Currow Cycling Club said:
"Currow Cycling Club and the John Drumm Cup Races are long standing fixtures in the Irish Cycling Calendar with the first John Drumm Cup taking place in 1966. We always try and cater for all categories and are honoured this year to be part of the National Series. To cater for everyone the start times will be as prompt as possible and assembly will be 10 mins before the start time."
"The eyes of the Irish cycling world will once again focus on the roads of Kerry on June 11th when the annual John Drumm Cup and supporting races take place on the roads of Currow, Scartaglin and Castleisland. The event has received special status this year as part of the Cycling Ireland National Series. This is in recognition of the events longevity having taken place since 1966 with only a brief pandemic forced break but also the stature of winners the race has produced."
Round Four Recap
Caoimhe O'Brien celebrates winning Round Four (Image: Inpho)
Caoimhe O'Brien and Conn McDunphy were the big winners in Round Four of the Road National Series on Sunday, June 4th, after a brilliant day's racing in Navan, Co. Meath.
The Sean Nolan Meath Grand Prix saw O'Brien and McDunphy earn well deserved victories and take hold of the Road National Series leaders jerseys.
An exciting women's race kicked off the day, with a large start list and perfect sunny conditions, spectators were treated to an enthralling race along the roads north of Navan.
Taking on two laps of a challenging circuit, the order of the day was established as Imogen Cotter and Linda Kelly laid down the gauntlet as they set a fierce pace on the circuit's big climb after roughly 20km - with only Caoimhe O'Brien able to hold their wheel.
Cotter, Kelly and O'Brien were joined by Aoife O'Brien, Annalise Murphy, Jemma Speers, Eve McCrystal and Orla Walsh formed a formidable leading group who wouldn't look back and fight amongst themselves for the win.
The decisive climb saw the leading group trimmed down to just four as McCrystal, Murphy, Aoife O'Brien and Speers were left behind.
The quartet worked well together to hold off the chasers in the final 10km, and it was O'Brien who kicked from the quartet with 100 meters to go and was able to hold off Cotter in second and Kelly rounded out the podium.
In the men's race, a breakaway of twelve riders established themselves early on and rode well to take a substantial gap into the final lap.
An elite selection, that group comprised of McDunphy, Aaron Wade, Gareth O'Neill, Darnell Moore, Peter Kirwan, Charlie Holt, Aaron Rafferty, Jason Kenny, Conor Halvey, JB Murphy and Adam Gilsen.
It would all boil down to the decisive climb of the day with just over 20km remaining as McDunphy piled on the pressure on the rest.
Only Wade and O'Neill could follow the wheel as the trio would contest the win.
McDunphy broke away with 2 km remaining, an intelligent attack saw him hold off Wade in second and O'Neill third.
Killian O'Brien and Shauna Finn retained their overall lead in the junior rankings ahead of round five.
Current Standings
Men's ranking
1st - Conn McDunphy (Lucan CRC)
2nd - Daire Feeley (All Human/VeloRevolution)
3rd - Conor Halvey (Four Masters CC)
Women's ranking
1st - Caoimhe O’Brien (Belco Van Eyck)
2nd – Aoife O'Brien (Spellman-Dublin Port)
3nd - Jemma Speers (North Down CC)
Junior men's ranking
1st - Killian O’Brien (Orwell Wheelers)
2nd - Willem O’Connor (JEGG-DJR Academy)
3rd – Liam O’Brien (Fermoy CC)
Junior women's ranking
1st - Shauna Finn (Arcane CT)
2nd - Hannah Hayes (TC Racing)
3rd – Aine Doherty (VC Glendale)
Full rankings are available here.
Find out more about the 2023 Road National Series here.
Entries are open here.