The team was Ed Perry, Russell Page, Simon Saunders (all Isle of Wight), Warwick Spence and myself (a late substitute for Tom Hemmant who couldn't get the time off work).

After being stuck in traffic jams getting out of London on Thursday morning, some fairly rapid aggressive driving from Keith Butler was required to ensure we made the ferry at Rosslaire. The crossing was far from smooth and there were a fair number of passengers losing their dinners. Overnight stop at Dungarven left a short drive to Killorgin in County Kerry for Friday's stage.

Both Simon and Ed made it into the large group that went up the road after 6 miles, never to be seen by the bunch again. Simon got away with two riders in the closing miles and duly won the uphill sprint in Killorgin town centre. Warwick led in a chase group a few minutes down, with Russell and Ian in small group a further couple of mins back. The main bunch rolled in over 10 mins down.

Saturday's 94 mile stage including the cat. 1 Conor Pass was always going to be a tough day for the Surrey League to defend Simon's yellow jersey. The key break some went 10 miles before Conor. Some determined riding from Warwick and Ian closed the gap to just 8 secs at one point, before it extended back out to maybe ~30-40 secs at the foot of Conor. On the climb Warwick successfully bridged across to the break. Behind Simon's small group held the break at around 1 mins for a while before eventually conceding 5 mins and the jersey in the 40 mainly-headwind miles back to Killorgin. Despite, under team orders, sitting on the back of the break Warwick had to be content with 9th at the finish.

The 7 mile time trial on Sunday morning led to two Irish riders Paul Griffin and Eugene Moriaty sharing the lead (after the yellow jersey after Saturday's stage missed his start by 2-3 mins). Ed recorded a fine 6th in the tt just seconds away from 2nd, to go into 2nd on U23 GC. Sunday afternoon's stage was largely controlled by the Cycleways team of Moriaty. All the Surrey League managed to avoid the crashes in the rain, with Warwick escaping in a small chase group in the closing stage to finish 6th. Ed recovered from a puncture in final 5 miles to hold onto to his U23 GC placing.

Monday's final stage did not go to anyone's expectations. Simon escaped early on in small break (to eventually come 4th on the stage). Behind the 3rd and 4th placed guys on GC escaped midway in the race in a group including Warwick (eventually recording his third top ten of the weekend, in 7th place). The teams of Griffin and Moriaty seemingly played a game of 'chicken' over who would chase - neither did leading to an unexpected win for John Dempsey of Carrick Wheelers.

Overall a respectable weekend for the Surrey League with one stage win, two riders in top 10 on GC (Warwick 7th @ 3:34, Simon 9th @ 4:04), second in U23 GC (Ed) and five top 10s on the stages, in Ireland's second biggest stage race.

Ian.

Final general classification
1 John Dempsey (Dan Morrissey Carrick Wheelers) 10.40.26
2 Conor Murphy (Kanturk CUCC) 0.01
3 Paul Griffin (Earl Of Desmond) 0.57
4 Eugene Moriarty (Cycleways.com)
5 Brian Keane (Leinster Cycling Federation) 1.28
6 Martin O'Loughlin (Dan Morrissey Carrick Wheelers) 1.41
7 Warrick Spence (Surrey League) 3.34
8 Rory Wyley (Dan Morrissey Carrick Wheelers) 3.36
9 Simon Saunders (Surrey League) 4.04
10 Miceal Concannon (Killorglin Credit Union) 6.08
Points classification
1 Martin O'Loughlin (Dan Morrissey Carrick Wheelers) 41 pts
2 Eugene Moriarty (Cycleways.com) 29
3 Brian Keane (Leinster Cycling Federation) 27
King of the Mountains classification
1 Paul Griffin (Earl Of Desmond) 68 pts
2 Brian Keane (Leinster Cycling Federation) 58
3 Rory Wyley (Dan Morrissey Carrick Wheelers) 53
Category 2 classification
1 Peter O'Connor (Killarney CC) 10.53.37
2 Seamus Kelly (Enalokam Remax Newbridge) 0.33
3 Ciaran Farrell (Dublin Wheelers/All Systems A) 0.50
Under 23 classification
1 Miceal Concannon (Killorglin Credit Union) 10.46.34
2 Ed Perry (Surrey League) 0.10
3 Andrew McQuaid (Leinster Cycling Federation) 4.56
Teams classification
1 Dan Morrissey Carrick Wheelers 6.22.35
2 Leinster Cycling Federation 2.11
3 Surrey League 2.34