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POWER'S NECK ON THE BLOCK?

Picture the following scene. It's the winter of 2020, somewhere in rural Ireland. A man in his mid forties sits in front of a blazing fire. He suddenly rises from his armchair throne, turns to his three young children and announces "Right, that's enough telly for tonight, time to go to bed, you've school in the morning!"

The kids respond with the usual " Awhh Daddy, it's only nine o'clock!" and plead with him for a few minutes stay of execution."What about a story Daddy?" pleads the youngest child of the trio. " Yeah Daddy!" pipes up the middle child, the only daughter. "What about the one where you beat the professionals and became champion of Ireland?"

The father looks at his wife, she smiles back and nods approvingly. She has heard the tale a thousand times but knows how he likes to remember that day.

"C'mon Daddy, you know the one!" pleads the youngest again, "Where you beat Ciaran Power down in Cork!"

"Yeah, and he was fifth in a stage of the Tour Of Italy that year wasn't he Da?" asks the oldest son, showing his aptittude for remembering anything remotely connected with cycling.

"You would have won a stage in the Tour of Italy, wouldn't you Daddy?" asks the youngest, his eyes aglow.

" I don't know about that now." smiles the father.

" But you went to the Olympics that year didn't you Daddy?"

"In Australia!" adds the daughter.

"That's right!" nods the father and they all troop after him up the stairs to listen to the rest of the tale before falling asleep and dreaming of faraway places like Australia and Cork.

(June 21) This scenario will be already running through the minds of everybody from the no-hopers to the contenders in this years Creda National Road Race Championships to be held in Blackrock, Cork this Sunday. Ciaran Powers reputation goes before him and his head is on the block, with almost two hundred cyclists wielding axes. Whether they will get the chance to swing at Power's neck is another story.

This year for the first time ever there will be professional cyclists competing in Irelands national championship. Power will line up in the colours of the British Linda McCartney squad, while Athlone's Morgan Fox should line up in the livery of the Belgian Tonnisteiner team. If either of these two manage to pull off the victory, there will be a white jersey with green shamrocks of Irish national champion in the professional peleton, for the first time ever, this year.

As David Millar of top French team Cofidis will testify, this could prove harder than expected. Millar (Britain's top hope in this years Tour De France) found himself marked out of the British championship two years ago to such an extent that he vowed never to ride them again.

With the final selections for the Olympic road race in Sydney this year still undecided, others will be hoping that a win will propel them into the spotlight.

Mark Scanlon has come a long way since the heady days of winning the world junior road race championship two years ago. After a season plagued by injury last year, Scanlon is now in top form for his new French club CC Etupes. The Sligoman tested the Irish waters last week in the Davis Cup in Ballina and found himself scalding the rest of the field with a red hot performance that saw him lap everyone bar David Nugent and win by over four minutes!

Tipperary's Brian Kenneally has been one of the most consistent home based riders this year, winning a stage of the Ras and last weeks Meath Grand Prix. Indeed Kenneally's conistency is only matched by the Irish team selectors consistency in failing to select him.

Italian based Dave O'Loughlin held the yellow jersey of race leadership in the Ras for two days and will not find the 100 mile distance daunting. He missed his home clubs race last week due to his club Zalf Fiors commitment to ride a world cup U/23 race in Italy. O'Loughlin is a very aggressive and talented young rider and shouldn't be far away from the medals.

Eugene Moriarty is one of the two riders qualifying Ireland for the double berth at the Olympics, Power being the other, and will be aiming to secure that place for himself with a good ride on Sunday. He was second in the Meath Grand Prix last week and on his day is as good as anyone in the country.

David McCann, from Belfast, won a stage and both the points and mountains competitions in the Ras and is presently on National squad duty in the Manx International, Isle of Man and should be in contention along with his Ras teammates, former champion Ray Clarke and Ras penultimate stage winner Stephen O'Sullivan.

Other exiles who could shape the race are Michael McNena, who is based in Italy with the Sintofarm team, brothers Derek and Dermot Finnegan who ride for the Belgian DCM team and Aiden Duff who is based in France.

They will be up against the likes of Meath's Phil Cassidy, Tipperary's Eddie O'Donoghue, Corkman Aiden Crowley, Banbridges current champion Tommy Evans and Dubliners Paddy Moriarty - the highest placed Irishman in this years Ras, Shane Baker, Craig Sweetman, Dave Peelo, Colm Bracken and cousins Gary and David McQuaid, to name but a few.

Will any of the aforementioned riders be able to beat Power and tell their children the story of the day, twenty years from now? "It was the 25th of June in the year 2000, I was in good form that year........."