The Under 16 event saw Aiden Noone finish 7th on Stage 3 in an 8 man break which gained 1.43 on the field. He became our GC leader for the Monday morning criterium stage having jumped into 7th place overall. He was now second placed Irish based rider joining fellow Donegal man, Matthew Doyle (Team Ireland) in the top ten.

Throughout a fast and furious crit the 90 riders were whittled down to approx 20 by the last few laps with Aiden and Matthew Taggart still there for the finish. Job done - 7th overall secured amonst a truly international field. Matthew pulled himself up to 19th overall, 5th Under 15 rider and 6th Irish based rider overall.

Under 16 Final GC
Davey Gunst u16 4.14'50"
Bart Jan de Vink @ 6 secs
Jamie Dudley @ 9 secs
Matthew Doyle @ 10 secs
Cameron Balfour @ 11 secs
Adrian Saintz @ 28 secs
Aiden Noone @ 30 secs
Frank Vermue @ 57 secs
Joshua Knights @ 1 min 3 secs
Joshua Buchal @ 1 min 16 secs

The Under 14 team had an exceptional race and were Team Competition leaders running into the last stage. Aaron Swann was also leading the KOH competition and was wearing his polka dot jersey with pride. Cathal Clarke was continuously chipping away at stage placings and they were ably backed up by Ryan Orr and James Mulligan, also having great races.

Again the crit pace was fast and furious, riders were being dropped from the start through the tight street circuit in Kiltimagh. At the finish only a small group of 19 riders remained in the race, with all four Ulster riders plus Jake Gray (East Tyrone) still hanging in there the team prize was safe.

Stuart Balfour (Scotland) took the win ahead of Jake Gray. Cathal Clarke was placed again, this time in 5th. GC results saw Aaron 3rd, Cathal 5th and Jake 6th. Jake deserves special mention for also winning the Under 13 category.

Under 14 Final GC
Micheal O Loughlin 2.31'29"
Stuart Balfour @ 6 secs
Aaron Swan @ 15 secs
Wouther de Vink @ 19 secs
Cathal Clarke @ 23 secs
Jake Gray @ 24 secs
Nathan Draper @ 28 secs
Francis Webb @ 34 secs
Rhys Donnelly @ 35 secs
Louise Borthwick @ 38 scs

George Boyd, team manager and Chair of the Cycling Ulster Youth Commission said: "I would like to commend our team members on both their conduct and commitment throughout the three days of racing, as well as their results. It was a pleasure for both Mary and myself working with them. We would also like to show our appreciation to the other Cycling Ulster members competing for their clubs, as they were also a credit to both themselves and their clubs."


Stages 1, 2, & 3 report
Our teams have performed superbly well over the past two days. We are two Road Race stages and a Time Trial stage in, with only the Kiltimagh Town Centre Crit to go.

The standard of racing is high and the field sizes are enormous for youth racing. Over 50 in the Under 15 category and 91 in the Under 16s. Many nationalities are represented on the roads of Mayo and Martin McNally is to be congratulated on bringing together a race of this scale for the third time.

Under 14s – Aaron Swann, Ryan Orr, Cathal Clarke and James Mulligan

Stage 1 30km Road Race. At the end of day one all finished securely in the leading group on the road, Catahl took 6th and James 10th. Aaron was in 2nd place in the KOH competition and both Ryan and Aron finished high enough for Ulster to be leading the Team Classification overnight.

Stage 2 was a 4 km Time Trial. Again the guys really impressed. Aaron Swann proved his versatility by taking 3rd place cementing his challenge for the overall. Cathal was 5th , James and Ryan were 10th and 11th respectively. The Team Classification is also starting to look really good.

East Tyrone’s Jake Gray also finished extremely well taking 6th, and 1st Under 13 rider.

Stage 3 36km Road Race. Aanother hilly road stage and Aaron Swann set about the KOHs like a man possessed. He had 2 x firsts and a second to maximize his chances of wearing polka dots tomorrow. Both Ryan and Cathal punctured during the stage and fought hard to re-catch the peleton to keep Ulster in contention. With James having a great, and thankfully less eventful day, all four lads finished well up in the bunch finish.


Under 16s. Aaron McBride, Aiden Noone, Declan Reid, Craig McAuley, Blaine Cole, Matthew Teggart, Craig Crawford and Harry McCombe

Stage 1 60km Road Race. The Under 16 teams have a really high standard to contend with, and a field of 91 is a challenge to contend with on the narrow Kiltimagh roads. Bl;aine Cole had a particularly hard stage after puncturing at about 3 miles. He chased hard and got to within a couple of cars of the back of the bunch but did not quite make it. The speed of the race was causing a lot of people real difficulty, with only 46 finishing in the main bunch and four in the break. The Ulster guys rode well finishing in the bunch. Still all to play for!!

Stage 2 Time Trial. Aaron McBride finished best placed, but lost about 30 seconds to the winner. The other guys all finished within about 15 seconds of Aaron. All solid performances, but GC placings were slipping away a bit.

Stage 3 72km Road Race. We needed to get riders in breaks, that was team orders! It was the only way back for GC or for a Stage win today. The guys were magnificent, they really came alive! Unfortunately Harry lost contact with the bunch in the first lap, after attempting to get up the road and overcooking. Eventually a small group of 6 pulled clear containing Aiden Noone,and Mathew Doyle (riding for the Irish Team) they were gaining time. Before the end another small group of three slipped away containing Aron McBride, now the race was really interesting.

The guys finished in the breaks and we are now waiting for positions and time gain confirmations. Exciting stuff!

A special mention to Declan Reid, who crashed heavily on the last lap and fought for many kms to regain the peleton with about 5km to go. He then finished 8th in the main bunch in the sprint.