Tomorrow is your last chance to vote in the Cycling Ireland Membership Awards. Members of Cycling Ireland can vote here:
http://www.cyclingireland.ie/cycling-news-item/cycling-ireland-membership-awards-voting-opens/414
Below is information on the various categories and nominees.
VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR
| Declan Slevin – Rosemount CC Worked to streamline para cycling at national level from come and try events with other organisations to his role as secretary as Para Cycling commission secretary. | Hugh Byrne – Sundrive Track Team For giving his time tirelessly throughout the year running the coaching sessions at Sundrive and organising most of the National Championships |
| Margaret Donnelly – Orwell Wheelers * Leinster Commission’s Women’s Representative,* Managing the Leinster Team at the Bedford 3-day for the second year in a row* Managing the Irish National Team at Ras na mBan
* Helping to organise the Orwell Stickybottle Women’s Crit League * Always ready to volunteer at races, including in-car support for various women’s races |
Martin Grimley – Dromara CC Dedicated work towards the promotion and development of youth cycling off-road along with senior events also |
| Michael O’Connor – Fermoy CC In 1969 Michael became secretary of Fermoy Cycling Club, a post he holds to this day. Under his supervision the club has produced many Irish Championship winners and numerous riders selected for international teams. The club is the most active promoter of events in Munster. | Noel Doherty – Killarney CC Noel has put in unbelievable amount of work this year to organize the XC National Champs, travel around the country with the youth squad to all races and also took a inter-club squad to a British NPS in Cannock Chase. He also runs the Munster XC Series every year and chairs the Killarney CC. |
CLUB OF THE YEAR
| Bray Wheelers – WicklowFor their youth development in mountain biking, road, grass track and track riding and racing. For involving the youth from the local tri club in the youth events | Deenside Wheelers – Kilkenny For getting a thriving scene up and running in a non traditional area |
| Lakeside Wheelers – Westmeath Brilliant National Champs together with hosting a first mid week Para Cycling TT in the Invacare National League | Midleton CTC – Cork Midleton CTC members have raised a huge amount of money for charity this year. The club have organised two events for Marymount Hospital raising over €7000, they have run a triathlon event which raised €2000 for the Whitegate National school and most of their members supported and took part in the Endurance event which is aiming to raise €500,000 for cancer research. |
| Orwell Wheelers – Dublin * Organising the Orwell Stickybottle Women’s Crit League* Dedicated 4-week program to introduce women to cycling – open to all CI members, not just Orwell members* Participation in Rás na mBan | Team MoCo – Down They are the most prolific gravity focused club in the country with teams competing in both Enduro and DH races. They have been organizing National Youth Development days in Bike Park Ireland this year which also have been a huge success. |
| VC Glendale – Antrim Their club spirit surrounding their youth development is unrivalled at the moment nationwide |
BEST LEISURE EVENT OF THE YEAR
| An Post Tour de Burren It’s awesome… rocking routes, superb scenery, fab foodstops, outstanding organisation, …. and ice-cream! | Cycling Ireland Bike Fest It was a very successful event focused exclusively on youth riders, something that is most needed on the Irish cycling scene (both road and off-road) |
| DID Cycle for Life A good fun event well organised | Leinster Loop Very well run event. Event gets bigger each year due to a great team of hard working volunteers.Well organised event by a small organising crew |
| Paracycling Come & Try- Corkagh Park Because it brought together both able bodied cyclist and para cyclist in a safe and friendly enviroment where people could try out handcycling tandem and adapted bikes | Stephen Roche Atlantic Challenge The Stephen Roche Atlantic Challenge has become the first ever and only Irish sportive to be part of the UCI cycling for all calendar. |
BEST COMPETITIVE EVENT OF THE YEAR
| Deenside Cup Everyone that turned up to the event spoke very highly of it. Really was a brilliant event. | European MTB Marathon Championships It was the biggest and most important off-road even to be ever hosted in Ireland. We had both Olympic and World champions competing here against each other, other international and domestic riders. It has really put Ireland on the XC racing map of the world! |
| Junior Tour of Ireland Through its 38 year history it has had all the current professionals through its ranks, and aided in the development of the strong junior/U23 program currently in existence. Organised by a band of loyal volunteers on a shoe string budget, it’s atmosphere is second to none. | Rás Mumhan Rás Mumhan continues to be one of the corner stone’s of cycling in Ireland & is one of the premier cycling events in the country run by Killorglin Credit Union Cycling Club. |
| An Post Rás na mBan * It showcased the very best that domestic and international women bike racers have to offer* great organisation and PR – run by a dedicated volunteer crew | National Road Championships Very well organised |
| Shay Elliot Memorial Race For its development from a traditional A1/A2 event. This year they introduced an A3 event the SHA3 which brought this tough classic style race to a wider audience |
BEST DOMESTIC BASED MALE RIDER OF THE YEAR
| Eddie Dunbar For his endless results.Consistently a great rider all year. Excellent achviements to date.Eddie topped the Irish junior rankings again this year & has shown the natural talent he has for the sport. Eddie has put huge work in over the past year to achieve the results over the season & this on the back of completing his leaving cert. | Jacob Dickson Jacob has been going from strength to strength in DH racing for number of years now competing in the youth categories and now in Juniors. He is the first Irish Junior (off-road) rider ever to have won a medal at the World Championships, he came 3rd to claim the bronze medal in Hafjell, Norway earlier this year. |
| Michael O’Loughlin Best placed Irish man in Junior World’s RR / consistent improvement in his performances all season | Paddy Clarke Worked with developing riders in Connaught early season with tips & advice. |
| Sean McKenna The most consistent rider of the season collecting results throughout the entire length of the season. |
BEST DOMESTIC BASED FEMALE RIDER OF THE YEAR
| Eve McCrystal Taking silver in the world Para Cycling championships as pilot with Katie George Dunleavy as stoker. also on the podium in Italy in the World Para Cycling Cup | Fiona Meade Had a break through Ras na mBan with a stage win, points jersey, best Irish rider . Followed on by being crowned national champion. A very popular nomination |
| Leah Maunsell Leah has been a dominating force in both XC and Enduro racing this season despite being a U16 rider and competing against adults (in Enduro). | Lydia Boylan For consistent results |
BEST COACH OF THE YEAR
| Cathal Miller – Clontarf CC Worked hard in the development of Para Cycling from Come & Try events to identify up comming talent to a successful World cup Para Cycling campaign with the development squad which included a 13th place finish | Dan Curtin – Kanturk CC Has worked with the current generation of promising talent with 3 of the 5 junior world championship team being coached by him. READ MORE BELOW |
| Hugh Byrne – Sundrive Track Team For coaching the youth, junior and senior riders at Sundrive Velodrome. For giving his time endlessly and tirelessly. For organising junior development training throughout the year every two weeks on Saturday afternoons which raised the standard of junior racing. For his patience as a coach | Neill Delahaye – Cycling Ireland Overall a good year for Irish riders. |
| Orla Hendron – Orwell Wheelers * Under Orla’s guidance, the women’s Junior racing scene is growing each year, with increased participation in road and track events in 2014* Organised junior training camps in Alkmaar (Netherlands), Kippure (3 days), Corkagh Park Cycling & Studying for secondary school girls, another trip to Alkmaar in November, and organised test days for Junior riders at Sundrive Track.* Led a junior team at the Visit Nenagh 2-day race
* Helped to organise the Orwell Stickybottle Crit League, and had the Junior riders participate in this and the Corkagh Park ladies racing series * Junior rep for the Women’s Commission and Cycling Ireland * Child Protection Officer for Cycling Ireland (national and Leinster) (*and if she wasn’t busy enough, also won a World Champion Title and a haul of medals at the World Track Masters!) |
Robin Seymour Robin has been giving up a lot of his own training time to develop Junior and U16 riders this year in XC and Cyclocross. 2 of the junior riders trained by Robin placed in the top 3 of the XC NPS this year, competed successfully in UK and one of them (Paddy Michel) was selected for the UCI training camp in Aigle. Robin has also been running very successful training CX sessions (the only one in Dublin!). |
