Junior Sam Coleman claims B9 Energy Storage ToA

Emerging junior talent Sam Colman (riding for French club AS Villemur) fought through the deteriorating weather conditions to claim a memorable win at the top of Windmill Hill in today’s B9 Energy Storage Tour of Ards classic road race. Behind him Gareth O’Neil (Athlete Nutrition Coach HD) and Lindsay Watson (Power House Sport) completed the podium. The course had to be changed due to road conditions, but the shorter Lough Doo circuit was tough and split the bunch from the start. After 7 laps the finishers were spread over 20 minutes and less than half the field finished.

Here’s the full result. See the pictures below for the story of how the race unfolded.

	Rider	Club	Time gap
1	Samuel Coleman	AS Villemur	2:13:40
2	Gareth O’Neill	Athlete Nutrition Coach HD
3	Lindsay Watson	PowerHouse Sport
4	Dean Harvey	Trinity/VC Glendale
5	George Peden	Team PB Performance
6	Travis Harkness	Spellman-Dublin Port	@4:50
7	Curtis Neil	Lyon Sprint Evolution	Unplaced A2
8	Christopher Donald	Spellman-Dublin Port
9	Odhran Dougan	Team Caldwell Cycles	@5:20
10	Chris Richardson	Killinchy CC	@6:35 Unplaced A3
11	Andrew Hedley	AHC Racing
12	James Dane	Dromore CC
13	Johnny McRoberts	Banbridge CC
14	Carl Lowry	Phoenix CC
15	Conor Dooney	Foyle CC
16	Jamie Moss	Ballymena Road Club
17	Aaron Parks	Banbridge CC
18	Martin Colgan	Armagh Down CC
19	Jonathan Taylor	Carn Wheelers
20	Paul-Antoine Hagan	Banbridge CC
21	John Buller	Banbridge CC	@9:37
22	Fearghal Kelly	Phoenix CC	@14:15
23	Matthew Pilgrim	Velo Café Magasin
24	Courtney Walsh	Phoenix CC
25	Jimjo McCullagh	Carn Wheelers
26	Jonny Adams	McConvey Cycles
27	Des Woods	Inspired Cycling
28	Ronnie Smyth	Dromara CC
29	Dolan Dunlop	Harps CC
30	Tony O’Doherty	Carn Wheelers
31	Johnny Webb	North Down CC	>20:00
32	Anthony Wylie	Dromara CC
33	Mark Scott	Phoenix CC

Thanks to everyone who made it such a great event –

Our sponsor B9 Energy Storage.
Race director Kieran McKenna, chief marshal Richard Williams and the committee who organised the event.
All our volunteer marshals, motor bike marshals, drivers and lead cars.
Ian Parfitt on the photo finish.
St John Ambulance.
All the riders – we had over 70 entries, although unfortunately the Ards riders were struck down with lurgy.
The commissaires – the experienced and charming double act of Laura Wilson and Jack Watson.
The Belgian Project for media services.
Portaferry GAA club, for letting us use their hall.

Here’s the story of the race in pictures. Thank you all!

Here’s what all the fuss is about – the legendary Tommy Brown Memorial trophy.

Some riders were already lined out in the carpark..

Chief Comm Laura Wilson gets the riders assembled. It’s still dry at this stage..

Rolling out to the official start point

The bunch approaches the official rolling start point on the Cloghy Road

Some young pony enthusiasts on the course..

Luckily they generously agreed to change their route to avoid the bicycles.

Approaching Portaferry at the end of the first lap, five riders already had a gap of 25 seconds on the bunch. They were Gareth O’Neill, Dean Harvey, Sam Coleman, Lindsay Watson and George Peden

The chasing group were trying to get organised.

A second chase group was already 1 minute down, with a smaller third chasing group at a minute and a half.

By the Lough Doo road on the second lap the 5 leaders still had 25 seconds.

..but by the top of the Cloghy Road climb on the third lap the gap had grown to 50 seconds

The raining was starting to fall, and the second chasing group was now 3:30 back with the final group of 10 a further 5 minutes behind.

At the end of the third lap, the leaders were taking it cautiously on the damp corner into Demesne View.

A smaller chase group was beginning to form behind the 5 leaders

The marshals were doing a great job at the busy junctions in Portaferry

By Corrog Wood on lap 4 the five leaders had extended the gap to 1:20

Four riders (Travis Harkness, Curtis Neill, Christopher Donald and Odhran Doogan) had escaped from the chasing bunch, and had a gap of about 10 seconds (the bunch can be seen in the background)

As the rain got heavier, some riders may have started to think about climbing into a warm bus…

The five leaders seek out a safe line as they exit Lough Doo Road on the fifth lap

The four chasers had extended the gap to the bunch (above) to 40 seconds, but were now 1:40 behind the leaders

Leading Women Jemma Speers (third in line here) was still looking strong on lap five, but pulled out on the final lap when her group was caught by the leaders.