The Irish National Championships held in Djouce woods in Wicklow promised to be one of the best courses and events of the year – and didn’t disappoint. Although I’d comfortably beaten my competitors in several races this year, I was feeling the pressure on the start line with my heart pumping as if the race had already started. I had a jersey to defend and after messing things up a bit last year I knew not to get complacent, there’s always a risk of a bad day, a mechanical or crash ruining things.We set off up the hill of the start loop and I got squeezed into the inside line and forced out the back. It took a sprint out of the last corner to overtake 3 people and get ahead as we hit the singletrack climbing. From there I just put my head down and pedalled, trying to catch and overtake the juniors who set off just ahead of us.The course was brilliant, real mountain biking at its best. It was a long lap with lots of climbing, mostly on technical singletrack, and each time followed by the reward of a brilliant descent. There was plenty of variety, some fast flowing trails, others rooty and steep, all made slightly more difficult with overnight rain greasing things up a bit.Into lap 2 and the others were out of sight. I was really enjoying myself, feeling good and cruising around. I dropped my bottle on the first descent which could have been disastrous but luckily I screamed for water at the 2nd feed zone and some kind person handed me a bottle – I was parched by that stage and the last climb would have been nasty without it.Towards the end racing against the men in masters and vets kept me entertained. I was doing ok but not quite the same as racing girls, it was a very physical course and I struggled to keep up on the faster technical descents that required a lot of upper body strength (back to the gym in the winter!).
The cheering crowds and clanging cowbells up the last climb and round the singletrack to the finish made a great atmosphere and took away any feelings of pain that were setting in. So I finished first with a decent gap and pretty pleased with my performance. It was a funny race, more about being composed and riding cleanly than close fighting and pushing myself as is usually the case. The only downside was getting whisked off to the drugs test caravan the second I finished, a bit of an anticlimax since I missed watching the men’s finish and catching up with people.I think the prize giving and podiums were my favourite part of the day – a new jersey, a huge trophy, a bouquet of flowers and best of all champagne to spray all over everyone. Great fun! A massive thanks to everyone from Epic involved in organising the race, there was a serious amount of work there. The atmosphere, the trails, the onsite entertainment, the cheering spectators made the biggest and best xc race I’ve been to in Ireland.
The cheering crowds and clanging cowbells up the last climb and round the singletrack to the finish made a great atmosphere and took away any feelings of pain that were setting in. So I finished first with a decent gap and pretty pleased with my performance. It was a funny race, more about being composed and riding cleanly than close fighting and pushing myself as is usually the case. The only downside was getting whisked off to the drugs test caravan the second I finished, a bit of an anticlimax since I missed watching the men’s finish and catching up with people.I think the prize giving and podiums were my favourite part of the day – a new jersey, a huge trophy, a bouquet of flowers and best of all champagne to spray all over everyone. Great fun! A massive thanks to everyone from Epic involved in organising the race, there was a serious amount of work there. The atmosphere, the trails, the onsite entertainment, the cheering spectators made the biggest and best xc race I’ve been to in Ireland.
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