Success claimed by strong Maryland Wheelers team at three day event

The Maryland Wheelers team who took part in the Newry 3 Day recently.

The team consisted of David McIntyre, Colin McElderry, Adam Pyper and Andy Morrison.

The first stage was on the Friday night, in which the team all managed to finish safely in the main bunch.

The second stage was on Saturday morning and David and Colin were unlucky to miss the 10 man break but were able to finish in the second group on the road.

They lost 17 seconds but knew with the Time Trial in the afternoon they could regain some of the time they lost.

Due to the amount of time Adam and Andy lost on stage 2 they were now out of the running for the GC but still had a job to do for their team mates.

David put in a sterling time in the 3.7km TT finishing in 4th place with an average speed of 30mph.

Colin finished slightly further back but was still able to make up time on the GC moving up to 19th. David was now lying in 9th 32 seconds off the leader.

With the team lying in 4th position, Sunday’s 75 mile hilly stage was going to be where they needed to make their move.

As David was highest placed on GC the team decided to work for him.

The plan was to close down all attacks and for David to get in a break.

The boys did well closing down most of the attacks within the first 30 miles until Jake Grey and Gary Crory got away, two very strong riders who were well placed in GC.

David rode hard in the 5 man break that managed to pull out a gap of 1 minute 45 seconds at one stage.

Eventually they finished with 30 seconds over the bunch and David finished 5th in a 5 up sprint. The other 3 boys finished safely in the main bunch.

David ended up taking 7th overall, 16 seconds down on the overall winner. Colin was 18th, Adam 43rd and Andy 45th.

The team finished 3rd overall with David first A3 and Colin first unplaced VET.

The team would like to thank all the sponsors who kindly donated money to help cover the costs and expenses for the weekend. It was much appreciated.

Golf Ballistix, McKee Property Maintenance, Martyn Jones Fire Safety, Mark Vaudrey Heating Services, First Time Driving, Snap On by Johnny McRoberts, Lisburn Cyrospa and David McCall Foundation.

Special thanks to Team Manager Phil Holland for his knowledge and experience over the weekend and Team Mechanic Josh Murray for all his support.