Three National Titles in One Weekend!

Scott-Orwell Wheeler Lara Gillespie achieved a unique feat last weekend when she became a triple national champion in two different disciplines. Lara reports back!

On Saturday 16th July I headed out in the morning to the national track champs in Sundrive Road, Dublin, having little experience in track racing, I was nervous.

My first race of the long and exciting day was a flying 200m which determined our opposition in the sprint competition, where we had a lap and a half to reach our top speed. Various friends and coaches had given me bits of advise but I was still very nervous. 300m to the finish I turned on the engine to reach my fastest speed at the 200m where I held on to the finish. I had the second fastest time so I was thrilled as it meant I had an easier opponent in the next round of sprints.

The next race was the 500m timetrial. I was told that the start out of the blocks was crucial. I went to watch the U14’s as they started before us. There is a beep at 30 seconds, 10 seconds and then 5..4..3…2 (stand up) … 1 (lean back)… GO! Whatever happened I came out of the blocks drifting to the right with the starter man was ready to catch me. I caught myself quickly, managing to straighten up and began pumping my legs, going over the first bend, staying on the sprinters line I could feel my heart throbbing. Passing the finish line seeing 41.8 on the clock and realizing I was in lead with one more rider. The last girl raced revealing my first national track title, I was very happy but quickly refocused on my next race as I had learn what I had to do. To keep my legs relaxed I cooled down on the rollers and elevated them also.

The second stage of the sprint came around, the 1 v 1’s. We cycled easy for a lap and a bit and I attacked at 250m to go. I won and qualified to the next round. This round was to qualify for the final, my opponent attacked first, but going around the last bend I got in front and won with a small lead.

The final of the sprint was best out of three and I was determined to do my best. I was on the inside and Amanda was on the outside, which meant I had to go out first, I didn’t mind. I took it out at a very steady pace for a lap, coming up to the bend I went high, at the highest point I used to downhill to my advantage and got Amanda by surprise to get a good break to the finish line. In the second race Amanda had to go out first, she did exactly the same as I did the race before, going easy and then attacking at 300m to go but I stayed on her wheel and at 250m to go I overtook her and came around the last bend feeling strong. I had won the U16 sprinting track nationals – I could hardly believe it! It felt fantastic, I think I knew then that I was hooked on the buzz of the track!

When I heard the next race was to be a twelve lap scratch race I was thinking about saving my legs for the next day, mountain biking nationals. Despite my tired legs I went ahead and walked onto the track with the other six girls. the first lap was unbelievably slow and officials were shouting from the side to hurry up as the Sprinter League people were all waiting to use the track! From then the pace accelerated suddenly I stayed on the wheel of the leading riders for shelter and save my legs for the sprint, however at 250m to go I found I was boxed in and couldn’t make an attack. From my right I saw the powerful Orla Harrison flying past all of us and I knew I needed to go with her but she had outwitted us, I couldn’t react quickly enough, my legs were tired. She got a lead which I couldn’t close, she won well and I finished in second – not bad at all considering I’ve only been on the track a handful of times since I first did my accreditation earlier this year. I was happy but knew what I did wrong. It was a long, tiring day in the heat but the thrill of track has made me realise how much I would like to do it.

We then drove up to Bellurgan Park just north of Dundalk on the South side of the Cooley Penninsula to camp for the night before mountain biking nationals the following day. I stretched and rolled out my legs that evening and went to bed early, however a couple of hundred meters away a wedding party was being held and didn’t finish until about 4am! I woke up the next morning still tired, but excited, I wanted to try to defend my National XC MTB Title.

A number of the youths that had been at the track the day before also made it to Belurgan Park, so the comeradery continued which was nice. It made it a very sociable weekend.

It was another scorcher of a day, not a sky in the clouds. We started a few seconds after the elite women, from early on I got a lead from my other competitors. We were to do three laps of the course, the course wasn’t extremely challenging but the climb at near the start was tough, especially on the third lap!

On the first lap, I came off my bike and landed in a bush and I fell down a small drop, but I quickly ran back up the cliff pushing my bike as fast as I could, anxious that I would be caught up on. I quickly got back on my way and was soon onto the descent. I was basically on my own from then, going over each obstacle patting my self on the back each time. I came around after one lap, hearing the encouraging voices of my family and friends gave me a sense of relief telling me I was already more than 3 minutes ahead. I tackled the second lap similarly but making sure I didn’t have any more crashes as I could feel the bruises and see blood on my knee. Coming on to the third lap I pushed myself extremely hard coming up the hill and nearly collapsed at the top, groaning to myself with the pain and tiredness, not knowing that the rest of my competitors didn’t even have to do a third lap as they were pulled out for being lapped by the U16 boys who had started before us. Anyway I came across the line in first place, with the gold medal and I had retained the title, I was extremely happy and relieved.

The weekend was very enjoyable while being physically demanding it was definitely worth every minute of it!