The late John Shanahan (RIP) was a great man for the phrase ‘who do I have here?’. His tandem pilots were well used to John’s intuition that there was someone new to talk to, even if it was half-way up a hill. The 4th edition of Midleton Cycling and Triathlon Club’s memorial 2-rider TTT, which for the first time hosted the National Paracycling Series, introduced us to many new riders, and some old stalwarts too. The weather had promised to be inclement, but John saw to that. We didn’t even have a hurricane. The race, in John’s honour, offered 4 categories, scratch, time-bonus, para-cyclists and short course. Scratch and time bonus were on a 28km course, para’s on 20.5km and the short course 10km. Not one of these segments are flat, fast or with the wind.
Young Molly Marshall undertook the 10km challenge on her beautiful Bradley Wiggins / Geoff Booker Trike. Whatever about the physical effort, everyone spoke about Molly’s determination and recognised her as rightful junior woman.
The para cycling league course was ridden by solo, handbike and tandem cyclists. Inaugural leaders of the 2024 league, Cormac O’Callaghan, Declan Slevin and Billy Shanahan with pilot Noel O’Doherty made light work of the course on a heavy day. Heavy too, were the rather impressive medals that para-cycling commissaire,
Denis Toomy, hung around the necks of Ivan Naluswa and Heather Jameson (2nd & 3rd solo) and Ray Murnane and Seamus Wall (2nd & 3rd handcyclists). Billy Shanahan faced no rival other than mother nature, but it’s Billy’s nature to defy the odds, and his tandem’s nature to defy gravity.
7.5kms further back the road, 5 scratch TTT teams were duking it out for generous cash prizes and more importantly bragging rights. This course rides historic roads of East Cork, and with that in mind, there was a certain Eddy Merckx aspect to this race, as riders were limited, nay warned, ‘road bikes only’. Modern technology, such as Strava, was eerily quiet about recon rides of this route’s segment of late, but local men John Aherne and Niek Tijsen (De Ronde van Cork CC) rode the course like they owned it, prevailing over Blarney men Michael Guilfoyle and Ger Cummins (2nd). Midleton CTC’s honour was maintained by Ronan Organ, joined from London by Jack Kenny (3rd).
It was a travelling party from Co. Down who took the spoils in the fiercely competitive time-bonus mixed race. Hazel Smith and Ian Inglis (Kinning Cycles) took the win, and even with their modest time-bonus had a minute to spare over nearest rivals Sally Ann Lynch and Michael Pietersen, who took a second 2nd for Blarney CC. Again in 3rd, came Midleton CTC, this time in the form of Sally Drennan and Kevin O’Brien, who came in 45 seconds later, time bonus applied.
East of Midleton lies Dungarvan CC, a land of dark horses it seems, as proven by Eamonn Phelan and Denis Callanan who put in a sterling performance which made the handicapper happy. Their time bonus brought them from mid-field to first and they were crowned category winners. Next up, and rightfully so, was Midleton CTC Chairperson (but not the handicapper) Andy Bowen, who made 2nd a family affair with brother-in-law Simon Forrest. In further family affairs, event Commissaire, Anthony Kenneally, was afforded the opportunity to congratulate his sons, Tony (Dungarvan CC) and Cillian (Youghal CC), who came in third on time-bonus, but worth noting their time would have brought them in 2nd before their time-bonus was applied. Under-age rider Tony may argue the term ‘bonus’, but there’s no arguing his talent.
Para Cyclists
Ivan Naluswa Male 10.08 9 10.44.48 36.48 2 Solo
Cormac O’Callaghan Male 10.06 7 10.46.06 40.06 1 Solo
Declan Slevin Male 10.04 5 10.48.26 44.26 1 Hand Cycle
Thomas Murphy Male 10.03 4 10.50.13 47.13
Ray Murnane Male 10.05 6 10.54.09 49.09 2 Hand Cycle
Billy Shanahan Noel Doherty Males 10.07 8 10.57.15 50.15 1 Tandem
Seamus Wall Male 10.02 3 10.53.22 51.22 3 Hand Cycle
Heather Jameson Female 10.01 2 10.56.01 55.01 3 Solo
Molly Marshall Female 10.15 1 11.11.31 56.31 1 Trike
Men Scratch Teams
John Aherne 48.28 Niek Tijsen 48.28 A Race (m) 10.06 31 10.54.42 32 48.42 1
Michael Guilfoyle 49.01 Ger Cummins 49.01 A Race (m) 10.05 17 10.54.18 18 49.18 2
Ronan Organ Jack Kenny A Race (m) 10.07 40 10.57.24 41 50.24 3
Pedro Ceitil 50.45 Dylan Kennedy 50.45 A Race (m) 10.08 43 10.58.59 44 50.59
Daire Breathnach 54.01 Cian Murphy 54.03 A Race (m) 10.02 11 10.56.16 12 54.16
Female Time Bonus Teams
Sinead Gallaher Anita Locke B Race (f) 10.22 85 11.25.10 86 63.10 1 20 43.1
Mixed Time Bonus Teams
Ian Inglis 52.55 Hazel Smith B Race (x) 10.11 49 11.04.10 50 53.10 1 2 51.1
Sally Ann Lynch 55.53 Michael Pietersen 55.54 B Race (x) 10.15 64 11.11.10 65 56.10 2 4 52.1
Sally Drennan Kevin O’Brien B Race (x) 10.19 76 11.17.54 77 58.54 3 6 52.54
Kevin Fennessy 57.18 Eleonar Fennessy 57.19 B Race (x) 10.24 91 11.21.36 92 57.36 3 54.36
Trevor Montgomery Linda O’Sullivan B Race (x) 10.27 55 11.23.38 57 56.38 0 56.38
Berdien Driscoll 72.56 Sean Driscoll B Race (x) 10.16 67 11.29.14 68 73.14 4 69.14
Male Time Bonus Teams
Denis Callanan 54.15 Eamon Phelan B Race (m) 10.25 35 11.19.31 37 54.31 1 11 43.31
Andrew Bowen 60.53 Simon Forrest 60.49 B Race (m) 10.17 70 11.18.05 71 61.05 2 16 45.05
Tony Kenneally Cillian Kenneally 53.22 B Race (m) 10.13 58 11.06.35 59 53.35 3 5 48.35
Barry McMahon 53.45 Jason Bane 53.46 B Race (m) 10.14 61 11.07.59 62 53.59 4 49.59
Mark McManus 56.33 Brendan Murphy B Race (m) 10.20 78 11.16.46 79 56.46 6 50.46
Niall O’Halloran 52.52 Stephen Darby B Race (m) 10.12 52 11.05.07 53 53.07 2 51.07
Don Ryan Martin Kirwan B Race (m) 10.28 60 11.21.51 63 53.51 1 52.51
Mark Cullen Tom McGuckian 59.19 B Race (m) 10.21 82 11.20.34 83 59.34 6 53.34
Peter Meaney Ian Gilvary B Race (m) 10.18 73 11.19.08 74 61.08 5 56.08
Gerard McCarthy Brian Kennedy B Race (m) 10.26 45 11.33.50 46 67.50 11 56.5
Mike Forde Douglas Pedroso B Race (m) 10.03 14 11.20.57 15 77.57 5 DNF
The John Shanahan Memorial honours John. His spirit was one of participation and enjoyment. In 2024, his memorial trophy was awarded to the only women’s team of Anita Locke and Sinéad Gallagher, who may have surprised themselves and the handicapper, but not any of the onlookers nor marshalls as they calmly ate up the miles of this distinctive route and unique event.
Midleton CTC could not have run this event without the support of our sponsors Roca Sports Ireland, Hurley’s SuperValu Midleton, ACS – Air Conditioning Systems, www.SellUe.ie, Southern Tyres Midleton and Moloney Pianos Midleton. The club, likewise, simply could not run the event without the support of 30 club volunteers, the Gardaí and the local community. Put simply, John Shanahan would have been proud, and maybe he would think, “are ye coming back next year?”.
Brendan Hennessy
Midleton Cycling and Triathlon Club
Photo credit Rory O’Toole
Some selected photos courtesy of Rory O’Toole
More photos can be found on https://www.facebook.com/midletonctc
