The Corkman 3-day is a highly rated national stage race with UCD the only student club strong enough to compete in it.

6 UCD riders competed in the race. They were Anthony Walsh, Gavin Haberlin, Fiachra Rowan, Fergus Ryan, Ciarán Ó Conluain & Colin Peirce. The race comprised of 4 stages (races) over 3 days from Saturday May 1st to Monday 3rd.

Corkman 3 day
 
Team UCD arrived down to the 3 day stage race as a firm favourite for the overall prize as well as a good shot for the team prize against 35 other national teams. Antony Walsh was the agreed team leader after a strong showing in the British Premier calendar race a week before and all 5 riders were commited to this task.
 
Stage one started in torrential rain which turned into driving hail over badly rutted farm roads. So bad in fact that Ciaran O Conluain snapped his handlebars on a fast descent in the closing stages. He did extremely well not to crash. The team rode on the front of the main bunch to protect the lead that Walsh had built up after he jumped away to form a lead group. On the final lap of six this breakaway group was slowly coming back to the peleton. Just before the catch Gus Ryan jumped away in the final 400 metres with Walsh glued to his wheel. Unfortunately in the final 100 metres the sprinters caught the pair and the stage win was lost. All team UCD finished in the bunch however and no overall time was lost.
 
That night a new set of handlebars were sourced for O Conluain and he was back in action for the following days racing which was to consist of a time trial followed by a road stage in the afternoon.
 
A very strong time trial by Walsh put him in the yellow jersey briefly untill he was overhalled by the final few riders. While this was disapointing it put the team in a very strong position for the afternoons stage as Walsh was only a handfull of seconds down on the overall lead. Very strong performances by Haberlin and Rowan put 3 UCD riders in the top 12 a few seconds off the lead. With Walsh still the designated leader but with 2 other riders a few more seconds back, any move by UCD would be a major threat to the yellow jersey.
 
The tactic was to use UCD riders to attack at every opportunity. So we did. Rowan attacked right from the gun and immediately formed a breakaway group of exceptionally strong riders. He was then faced with a dilemna. Continue riding or come back to the bunch and attack the yellow jersey. A break is unlikely to stay away from such an early stage. He decided to come back and help the assault on the overall lead. Indeed the team attacked the race leader every few minutes. He responded very strongly to his great credit and seemed to have help from other teams but eventually O Conluain soloed across to the group followed by Walsh. The yellow jersey could not respond. 5th on the stage for Walsh and a gap of some 30 seconds on the yellow jersey was reward for an extremely aggressive days racing. The yellow jersey however came from Fiachra Rowans initial break that had against all the odds stayed away, in most part, till the end.
 
Stage four
 
Only one thing to do. With the team prize already safe, Walsh had to attack. The tactic was to use the UCD riders again who still posed a threat to the overall to "soften up" the overall leader and then set Walsh up for a once off strong attack. An early crash held up Ryan and soon after O Conluain had the misfortune to crash out also. This left Haberlin and Rowan to  set Walsh up. On a much flatter course this was always going to be a very tall order with the yellow jersey still very strong and all riders motivated for a sprint finish on the final day. Which is how it ended up. All three UCD riders rode extremely strongly but could not break the combined strength of the peleton and the sprint finish. Walsh finished 5th overall at 28 seconds with the two other counting riders Rowan and Haberlin in 12th and 13th place respectively.
 
Overall a great weekend for team UCD. The major goal was to win the team prize and this was achieved. It was UCD Cycling Club's first national team success since the Gorey 3-day in April 1997. A real will to win and to keep going in spite of crashes, and major mechanical issues bodes well for the Ras team late in May.