Greta Lawless, who just turned 17-years-old a couple of months ago, may have had to settle for silver in the first elite national championships of the year but the Team WORC rider made no mistake at the weekend in the National XC MTB Championships.
She claimed the gold medal in the elite race, claiming victory by three minutes from last year’s champion, Caoimhe May (Orwell Wheelers), with Faith Robinson (Bray Wheelers) competing the elite women’s podium in Co Wicklow.
Lawless, who has been hotly tipped for success since making her mark in the youth ranks, nudged ahead of May on the first lap of four before opening the taps to ride away with it in the Team WORC-promoted title races in Tonygarrow.
At the end of the opening lap, and after a close run opener between the eventual gold and silver medal winners, just 11 seconds separated them, with Lawless getting head. By the end of the second lap that advantage had grown by a further 37 seconds, with the leader adding 56 seconds and 1:03 to her lead on the penultimate and final laps respectively.
At the finish, Lawless took it by 2:56, with Robinson and Leah McCarthy (K Capital Rocky Mountain) the only other riders in the small field to complete all four laps; Lawless triumphing after 1hr 11mins of racing.
In the men’s title race, Christopher Dawson (Dawson Racing Team) was aiming for this third national title win in succession after making a successful transition from road racing to MTB in recent years; something of a journey back to his roots having begun as a downhill racer.
Dawson’s main competition was always going to be top road and cyclocross rider, Dean Harvey (Trinity Racing), though he held him off yesterday; Dawson crowned champion again by four minutes. David Montgomery (Spellman Dublin Port) was only seconds behind Harvey in 3rd place.
The men’s six lap race followed the same pattern as the women’s event; the eventual winner building a modest early lead but then continuing to power ahead all the way to the chequered flag. A gap of six seconds, over Harvey, of the opening lap was extended by seamlessly through the race.7
And behind the lone leader, as he continued to pull away, Harvey and Montgomery, a former multiple national champion, went head to head to see who won fill the silver and bronze medal positions.
Though Harvey opened a gap over Montgomery during the first lap, Montgomery got back on terms on the third and fourth lap; passing Harvey before the Trinity Racing ride won the battle over the final two passages of the circuit.
At the finish, Dawson was the clear winner by 4:15 from Harvey, with Montgomery a further 25 seconds back in 3rd place. Travis Harkness (Spellman-Dublin Port) was 4th with Robert McKenna (Bray Wheelers) 5th, Daniel Brickenden (Team WORC) 6th and Mark Dowling (All human-VeloRevolution) 7th, and the final rider to complete all of the laps.
Robin Seymour, of the host club, won the Masters 50 race by eight minutes from PJ Haynes (Bellurgan Wheelers), with John Doris (EPIC MTB Expert Cycles) in 3rd.
In the Masters 40 race, Brian Melia (Team WORC) topped the podium by 32 seconds from William Simmons (Unattached), with Raymond O’Shaughnessy (Bellurgan Wheelers) 3rd.
Graham Boyd (McConvey Cycles) won the Masters 30 by just over two minutes from the two men who sprinted it out for silver and bronze; Sean Feeney (Team WORC) just seeing off Lee Clarke (Cycleology Racing Team).
The youth national championship races attracted good entries with riders travelling to Co. Wicklow from around Ireland. Ryan Daly won the Under 16 boys and Mia Geary won the Under 16 Girls. In the Under 14 category, James Cunningham and Aoife Craig were victorious.
The U16 boys title was won by Ryan Daly (Scott Racing) from Curtis McKee (Spellman Dublin Port) and Oliver O’Shaughnessy (Bellurgan Wheelers). The girls U16 Irish crown was claimed by Mia Geary (Fermoy CC) from Cara Suckling (VC Glendale) and Lacey Aicken Johnson (North Down CC).
In the U14 category, Aoife Craig (VC Glendale) took gold from Ava Baker (Breffini Wheelers) and Ciara O’Connor (Drogheda Wheelers). The boys title race was taken by James Cunningham (Orwell Wheelers), with Oscar Moran (EPIC MTB Expert Cycles) and Daragh Murphy (Rostrevor MTB Club) in 2nd and 3rd.
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