Irish xc National Championships – Kilruddery

This year’s National Championships run by Robin Seymour and Team Worc really showed Ireland’s potential as a world class mountain biking venue. The race took place at Killrudery Estate in Wicklow, a place that is normally off limits to bikes, with the Little Sugarloaf mountain forming a spectacular backdrop. The course was incredible, full of tight twisty singletrack through the woods, wall rides, technical rocky sections, and since we managed to escape the worst of the rain it was almost bone dry and even dusty. The atmosphere, familiar friendly faces and hassle free travelling makes racing in Ireland one of the most enjoyable experiences ever.

To win the National Champion title you have to be Irish, but this year’s race was made more interesting as we acquired a stray German (Mel Spath!) who was able to compete but not eligible to win the Irish jersey. Winning the jersey was my main priority but I was also looking forward to the additional task of trying to win the race overall.

As we set off across the start field Junior Claire Oakely (WXC UK) shot off like a bullet and led for the first part of the course. I jumped into second before we hit the singletrack, concentrating on riding smoothly on the tight corners rather than getting sucked into chasing Claire. I eventually got ahead on a climb and saw Mel (Cycleways) not far behind. Despite the course having very little climbing, there were several short but steep power climbs which are normally not too my liking at all, but I was feeling strangely strong on them – the feeling of good power in your legs as you jump out of the saddle to attack a steep section is hard to beat! In fact the first lap was amazing, everything was so smooth and I felt like I was only cruising but seemed to be flying pulling a bit of a gap on Mel, great. The last part of the lap was flat and fast though and I knew that was where I was in danger of losing time to Mel and sure enough she wasn’t far behind. I lost a few seconds stopping at the feedzone to straighten my saddle which had been driving me crazy since I knocked it into a funny angle early in the lap, but stayed in the lead.Although on first look the course didn’t seem hugely technical it took a lot of skill to ride smoothly and carry speed through the corners to save wasting effort. There were however a few tricky rocky sections mostly positioned at the top of the steep climbs to catch you at your tiredest. On one of these I dabbed and somehow spun my bike 360 degrees (luckily jumping off in time!) giving Mel a bit more chance to close the gap. Back on and re-composed I was having a great time, flying down the bomb hole at full pelt, skidding around dusty corners and hammering the little kickers. Then on the final wooded singletrack of the lap I dropped my chain and when I hopped off to put it back on Mel jumped in front. Bad timing too as it was just before the flat fast section. She had 20 seconds on me but I held on so that it wasn’t increased as we went into lap 3, though I lost another few seconds with more seat straightening at the tech zone.
For most of the next lap she was just in front and the cheers of encouragement from spectators telling me there was only 30 seconds gap helped to keep fighting. The gap increased a bit more on the flat section towards the end of the lap so that although not far ahead Mel was mostly out of sight. I went into the final lap hoping to give it one last shot at closing the gap but looking back I’m not sure how committed I was to this idea – I was riding hard but I should have been utterly burying myself and didn’t for some reason. In the end I was a minute back and felt like the race was too short and there should have been another lap – frustrating, maybe I could have gone harder on the last lap (easier said with hindsight) and without all my faff stops it could have been different.
Fantastic race, great course, great atmosphere and organisation. 2nd in the race but a consolation prize of my 4th National Champion jersey makes things a little bit better (results here). A get out of jail free card but I’ll have to get my finger out and step up a gear if I want it again next year since Mel will fully turned Irish by then and eligible for the jersey! training started this morning.

A huge thank you to Team Worc and everyone involved in course building and race organisiation. Kilruddery is one of the best race venues in the world and it was a super professional event. Thanks to the Think Bike support crew for the pro tech zone assistance and pre-race bike tuning. Thanks to Stewart Carr and Carrie for miracle massages over the last few weeks, nearly there! Also thanks to all the spectators out on the course, most of the time I had no idea who it was shouting my name but the cheers of encouragement make so much difference.
Next up: Lining up with the world’s best at theOlympic Test event at Hadleigh Farm in 2 weeks!

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