The start was really narrow and I was at the back of the grid so had to work really hard for the first few minutes to try and move up the field. It was a short course looping around a farmyard with a mixture of grass fields, bumpy farm tracks, and rooty singletrack. Mud and snow still on the ground made it pretty technical but with slightly slower speed than previous drier races.

Early in the race the layer of icy snow in the field sections made for some interesting sliding around, treading a fine line between exciting maximum speed and nasty crashes (managed to stay on the right side of it this week!). With so many riders on the short loop, the snow soon turned to thick heavy mud making things really hard going. There was one small climb that was an absolute killer towards the end, with mud gluing the tyres to the ground it was tempting to jump off and run, but I thought suffering burning legs to power through it was a better option!

I was riding close to a few riders for most of the race, initially just behind them, but as time went on I began picking people off. Its great fun when you get someone in sight and focus everything on catching them, the only problem is that a few seconds looks like nothing, but in a cross race it’s very hard to make up. Taking a slow line on a corner or messing up jumping back on the bike can mean losing several places, or at least giving yourself far more work to do at a time when its seems physically impossible to go any harder. I’m not sure why you come out of a race after all this pain thinking it was brilliant!

Coming into the last section there were suddenly two guys right behind me so I had to use my best blocking techniques to hold them off until the final tight corner and then make a sprint for the line. I just managed to stay ahead and it’s always good to finish with a bit of excitement!

I didn’t realise it at the time but I finished 3rd in the expert cat and would have been 9th in elite – not bad against the guys. Results are here and race report on irishcycling.com here.

It was a great race, I really enjoyed the course and the weather conditions and sponsorship from Erdinger with beers after the race made it even more authentic cyclocross. Thanks to all the organisers and encouraging supporters. Check out bikepure.org to see the excellent work they do in promoting clean and drug free cycling.

a longer video: