The Hugo Loughran GP, hosted by Island Wheelers, on the Ballycrummy circuit (outside Armagh) was held on Friday 23rd July. Always a popular race on the calendar, with a slightly different atmosphere given it’s held on a Friday evening. Two races were held on the evening – an A3/Junior race and an A4 race. We had Richie Gamble in the A4 race, with Dan Gordon making his competitive return, alongside the on-form Stephen Hanna in the A3 race. With this being Dan’s first race in a number of years, we asked him for a few words to describe the evening.

“With it being my first race back and the expectations for a top result for myself low, the team plan was that I would go with any early breaks and then chase down any potential breaks, in order that our club sprinter Stevie Hanna would remain fresh for the sprint for the line.”

That plan was almost executed perfectly – with no breaks getting more than 10-15 seconds, it came down to a sprint finish. The plan was to lead Stevie out, however after a late attack and nobody willing to pull it back, I had to put in a big effort to pull it all back together, leaving Stevie to sprint for himself. I dropped off the back of the bunch with about a mile to the line, but was delighted upon reaching the finish to learn that Stevie had taken the top step on the podium.”

“Well done Stevie and look forward to doing it again at the next one.”

A fantastic result for Stevie and for the club, made even sweeter by the team effort!

Thanks to Sharon McFarland for the photos.