MBUL hosted the 5th round of the NPS in Killaloe on Sunday. I was looking forward to this race, remembering the killer climbs and technical trails from the NPS a few years ago, and wasn’t disappointed. A lot of work had gone into making the singletrack more weatherproof and the course was great – one huge long fireroad climb that was very exposed and hot, followed by lots of damp woody singletrack, mostly downhill with a few steep kickers.
There was a bit of confusion at the start, they suddenly announced that the elite men and women would go off at the same time, and the race was already underway by the time I realised what was happening, so I was way off the back. 
We set off up a very long fireroad climb at a blistering pace, almost sticking to the men. As ever I was attempting to keep up with Mel Spath who was pushing the pace at the front. I managed to keep her in sight until the top and when we hit a long section of off-camber, rooty singletrack through the forest I was able to gain some time. I almost got in front as she dabbed on a steep kicker but resigned to following as closely as possible.
Each lap I lost sight of Mel as we descended a narrow switchback trail towards the finish, thinking I’d lost her, but once we hit the climb I could see her again 20 seconds or so ahead. This gave me all the motivation I needed to cling on, pushing hard to stop her getting away with the hope of making up time on the descent. The climb was a killer though, long, hot and painful!
On the last lap I managed to close the gap slightly, Oisin and Sean passed me on the climb and I jumped in behind them, hoping their pace would get me up to Mel so that I might have chance to get ahead on the singletrack. I almost succeeded but just lost them as I dropped my chain coming to the top of the climb. I quickly sorted it and set about catching up, but the hill effort left me pretty wrecked. It was hard to get enough composure to ride the decent smoothly and I was making stupid mistakes on the greasy roots. Any chance to catch up was lost when my chain got tangled somehow as I tried to climb the last kicker and I couldn’t turn the pedals. I stopped to sort it but lost about 30 seconds, so finished over a minute down in 2nd.
My last half lap could have been better, but overall I was happy with the race, to be close enough to put Mel under pressure is a big improvement! Thanks to MBUL for putting on a great race and UCD for their support. Expecially thanks to Conor and Aine of MAD for the lift down and Aine’s flawless bottle support!