Joe McCall 2007/2008 MTB Race Diary: Irish National Championships, Kilruddery, Co. Wicklow

Back to Kilruddery, the home of the Irish XC nationals. I first won the Irish nationals here all the way back in 1993, on my 21st birthday, so I have fond memories of the place. It’s a great venue, stunning scenary, wonderfull wooded singletrack, and great fields to race in.
Robin and TW designed a great race course. Only 4 small 3 min climbs the rest was rolley face singletrack. There was sooooo much going on, non stop corner, humps, yumps, bomb holes and berms….great stuff.
7 laps for the elite and I was nervous. My last 6 weeks was terrible, a bad crahs, a shoulder and neck injury, Hazo hospitalised and the crapola weather didn’t help either. 2 kgs heavier, and I wasn’t even goona race!
A 2nd row gridding based on my world ranking, and bang we were off, I had to hold back as I didn’t want to get in the way of the real battle (Robin, Niall and Conor). I followed these trio and Lewis for the 1st half a lap, and then settled into the race. I had good legs for the first 3 laps, and I was holding 4th with Aidan @ 40secs, and Ryan @ ~ 1:30. I then started to stuggle, and Aidan caught me on lap 4. He was riding like it was lap 1, so I was unable to hold his pace for long. The last lap was real hard, cramping all over, and Ryan coming up fast from behind. I though I had 5th, but Ryan came storming up and passed me on the last climb, I was bullin’. Not to worry, a good ride and an ok result, my last Elite nationals.
Congrats to Robin, his 15th straight tile, with Conor in 2nd and Niall a very close 3rd. Big it up for Aidan, mega ride, super slick on the singletrack, I was no competition for him today.