Having missed all the endurance training over the winter and not having much experience in marathon racing, I went into this aiming to test my fitness and attempt to keep a consistent pace through the race. Lining up at the start I couldn’t help thinking of the possibility of another national champions jersey so I rode focused on that in the end.
5km of road at the start saw all the roadies flying past and I just couldn’t hold on. It worked out ok because I missed the worst of the queue to get into a little singletrack climb, and then followed the path Oisin cleared through all the guys walking up! I was feeling pretty strong, keeping up with people who’d normally be way ahead of me in an xc race – this worried me a bit, didn’t want to blow up later on, but there was no point slowing down for the sake of it.
The course was hard, big climbs, slippery technical singletrack and fast road sections. By the end of the first lap I was starting to get cramps and wondering how I could do it all over again. I got some energy bars into me and the effects were unbelievable – gave me an incredible boost and I found a second wind.
The second lap was the most enjoyable, the sun had dried the trails up a bit and there were less people getting in the way. I was dropping people on the climbs – a sure sign that my muscles are finally returning after loosing them somewhere in Patagonia! Riding along with Oscar from Epic and a guy from Cork for the last part of the race made road sections way easier and until the last 5km I was having no problems. At the last fireroad climb the pain began to set in and I was starting to cramp, all kinds of things went through my head to try and forget about my legs hurting and I was pretty happy to cross the line in the end. Winning was great but I was even happier having beaten a lot of fast guys and finished with a good time.
It was a great race, nice to ride in an area I’d never really been in before. Also really well organised and impossible to get lost on which is always a good thing. Hot showers afterwards were a real luxury too!