Rachel Mitchell (North Down CC) won the tough uphill sprint finish to take the PJ Logan cup promoted by Island Wheelers at Coalisland today (Sunday 14th March). The PJ Logan Cup was a new event on the Ulster Women’s League calendar this year, and proved to be a testing but enjoyable course. Although only  4 miles in length, the course features a tough uphill drag to the start/finish line, with a fast rolling back section offering little rest-bite.

There was another good turnout of women supporting the event, and once again the race was handicapped into to 2 groups. However, due to the short nature of the course and the fact that the mens B – race was being held over the same course at the same time, the organisers felt an new approach to organising the handicap should be used. Instead of the limit group being set off a earlier than the scratch, it was decided to start scratch first and then almost immediately start the limit group off behind scratch….scratch however would be completing 6 laps of the course, whereas the limit group were doing 5.

This set the stage for a tough race. The scratch group would have to work very hard together to try and make up the lap on the limit group, while the limit group would be focused on staying away.

In the beginning scratch started off very aggressively on the first lap compared to the limit group, however the limit group eventually got themselves organised and were all working hard together to maintain their lead, whereas the scratch group seemed less focused on the task of gaining a lap.

Unlike the Phoenix GP where the limit group fragmented very quickly into many small groups due to the mixed abilities of riders, this time round all the riders worked well and stayed together to maintain their advantage.

Over the first few laps the scratch group did manage to pull back time on the limit group, however the limit group maintained a good steady rhythm and started to hold their lead over scratch. Caroline Patterson (Dromara CC), Lisa Mann (Roe Valley), Maeve Savage (Ballymena RC), Emma Kerr (Phoenix) and Amy Brice (Phoenix) all showed great determination to stay away.

Starting the final lap, it was clear the winner was going the come from the limit group, as scratch had fallen to nearly 5 minutes behind. Approaching the finish Rachel Mitchell kicked early and opened up her sprint closely followed by Lisa Mann (Roe Valley). Mitchell had started her sprint quite far out and it looked like she might have gone a litttle early as Mann seemed to be gaining on her. However Mitchell  kept her advantage crossing the line with half a  wheel to spare.

This was a great result for Rachel and all the other women from the limit group. It has also had a positive outcome on the scoreboard for the league as the points are now more spread out.

The UWA would like to thank all the marshalls who kept the race safe and Marian Lamb (Cycling Ulster) for all photos

Report Warren Francis

Results PJ Logan 2010 (TBC)

1 Rachel Mitchell (NDCC)

2 Lisa Mann (Roe Valley)

3 Caroline Patterson (Dromara)

4 Cheryl Cardwell (East Tyrone)

5 Maeve Savage (Ballymena)

6 Emma Kerr (Phoenix)

7 Maria Shannon (Ballymena)

8 Amy Brice (Phoenix)

9 Joanne Kee (Ballymena)

10 Trudy Brown (Northern)

11 Tonya Moran (Phoenix)

12 Hannah Francis (Bikeworks)

13 Julie Mulligan (Omagh)

14 Anne Paul (East Tyrone)

15 Ciara Mulholland (Clann Eirrean)

16 Kay Hack (Bann Wheelers)

17 Mandy Collie (Juiced Orchard)

18 Antje Otto (Phoenix)

19 Nicki McBride (Roe Valley)

20 Therese Smyth (Phoenix)

21 Kathryn Bell (Northern Dave Kane)

22 Louise Fullerton (Ballymena) DNF