Victory for Cassidy in Meath Grand Prix

MARK Cassidy emerged better than the rest in the demanding Sean Nolan Meath Grand Prix promoted by Navan Road Club which was held over a distance of 95 miles on Sunday. Cassidy, wearing the colours of the An Post / M Donnelly team outstripped former winner Neil Delahaye (Usher Irish Road Club) while third place was secured by young Mark Dowling (engraveit.ie), the son of the legandary boxer Mick Dowling. This was a truly marvellous performance by this young man, who only took up the sport last year. Another local man, Craig Sweetman from Stamullen M Donnelly finished in eighth place. The win in the Meath Grand Prix was a great boost for Cassidy coming at exactly the right time, with the All-Ireland Road Race Championships due to take place in a fortnight in Dunboyne where Cassidy lives. It also happens that the route for the championships will be passing his front door. The victory in the Meath Grand Prix follows on from a great win for Cassidy in the opening 38-mile stage of the Leinster three-day race held last week in Dunboyne. On stage two of this race, while wearing the yellow jersey, Cassidy did everything right to defend his jersey, but with this race being run on a handicap basis, the scratch men failed by about 200m to catch the leading riders, who got a very generous handicap. Paul Dolan (Usher) won the combined race at the Meath Grand Prix while in the ladies section, 17-year-old sensation Mary Costelloe from Pennsylvania finished ahead of Valerie Considine (Usher). Early on Sunday the under-age races were held. The u-14 event resulted in a very tight finish between Craig Arrigan (Orwell CC) in Dublin and Meath cyclist Aidan Wall from the recently re-formed Clonard CC, with Arrigan getting the verdict. Third place in this race went to Ciaran Campbell (Drogheda Wheelers). The u-16 race came down to a bunch sprint and here Stamullen M Donnelly rider Javan Nulty clinched victory in great style. Nulty won by a length from Nathan Mahaffey from the Orchard CC in Armagh with David Boyd (Clonard) just a half-a-wheel further back in third place with fourth place secured by Navan cyclist Ryan Mullen. The victory was a terrific boost for Nulty in his preparation for the European Youth Olympics, which will take place in Finland in mid-July. Nulty qualified to represent Ireland along with Mullen and Robert Anderson (Armagh) who finished fifth in Sunday"s race. The three young cyclists will spend this weekend at Limerick University completing a training / coaching session along with physical assessments, all in preparation for the games. This weekend the very popular Derby Festival / Paddy Flanagan Memorial two-day race will be held in Kildare town in conjunction with the Irish Derby Festival Committee and promoted by Newbridge CC. Stage one on Saturday will be an 80-mile road race. Stage two on Sunday will be the Town Centre Criterium.