The Rás Tailteann 2009
I was away in May for the 8 day Rás Irish stage race doing mechanic duties for the Irish National squad which was a great race.

We got the mountains jersey one day, a stage win and 6th overall for the week all in a great job done by the whole team.

The Guys ready for the off on stage one
L>R
Paul Helion, Stephen Barrett, Sean Downey, Martyn Irvine, Dave McCann

Dave McCann Team leader in the mountains jersey

Paul Helion Stage 6 Winner!!

The fringe benefit of being in Ireland ;)

As the Racing season is looming I thought I would share some memories of myself when I was a team mechanic for the Recycling Team in 2005 in the An Rás Tailteann (The Irish Tour) or more commonly called just the Rás, we went on to win the Rás with Chris Newton taking the overall. The Rás is an annual 8 day stage race held over the demanding roads Ireland has to offer with Irish County Teams competing against seasoned professionals and international squads. The 2007 edition will run between the 20th - 27th of May starting out in the Kildare Town of Naas and finishing in Skerries after 1200km of hard fought racing.
The Rás has a deep history behind it with some top names in cycling winning this race such as Stephen Roche, check out his bike that he used to win the 1979 edition at the bottom of the pics>>>>>>.
One of the Riders of note is Phil Cassidy who won the Rás in 1983,1999 and was still up there in the mix for a stage win in 2005 which was his last Rás before retiring at 43 in some stages he even helped his son Mark, Fantastic.
Check out the full set of Pictures from the Rás here: 2005 Rás