Abi Conway’s transition from dabbling in triathlon to a serious tilt at cycling is, on one level, not unusual. However, there are a few twists and turns in the story of the Mayo woman, who took bronze in the U23 road race at the National Road Championships in Co Meath at the weekend.
She was so intent on focusing on her Leaving Cert two years ago that she sold one of the horses she used for showjumping, her most recent serious sporting career. But having become distracted as she prepared for exams, she began considering taking up cycling. She decided to go all in. She got a coach from the start – Thomas Fallon – and hasn’t looked back since.
Though Conway (Westport Covey Wheelers) was new to road racing last year, she claimed bronze in the U23 category in the National Road Championships in Athea, Co Limerick. She did the same again on Saturday in Yellow Furze. This time Conway was 7th in the combined race, compared to 10th last year.
And earlier this season, in another sign she is further stepping up, she took victory in both the Donal Crowley Memorial and PJ O’Riordan Memorial and was 2nd in the Des Hanlon Memorial. After being presented with her bronze medal on Saturday, she told stickybottle she was delighted with her result and set out how she got into cycling and her hopes for the future.
“I did my Leaving Cert in 2023 and after I finished that I said ‘right it’s time to put the foot down now and do something’. I’m a bit of an ‘all or nothing’ person and I got bored so I went and got a coach. I did my first race in 2024 and that’s been it really.”
Before cycling, she did some triathlons, though she was heavily involved in equestrian and traveled around the country to compete.
“It was nothing serious, I wasn’t amazing at them,” she said of her triathlon career. “But I always did have something for cycling, it was always my strongest discipline. I’d only be on the bike once a week but I really liked it.
“I could see there was the potential to do an awful lot better if I put my mind to it. So I thought it’s an awful waste if I don’t. So I went and got a coach and I haven’t looked back since really.”
She joked that when she opted out of showjumping, even selling one of her two horses, her parents thought they were off the hook.
“I was all over the country, my poor parents were plagued. But they’ve gone from the frying pan into the fire now. They thought they were done when I got rid of the horse but now they’re all over the country with me again.”
Conway has now medaled twice at a Nationals and on Saturday when she made that 10-rider front group she was one of only two riders – alongside 3rd place Lenehan – who has not ridden for Ireland yet. And even Lenehan is on the up this year, having secured a stagiaire with Lidl Trek.
Asked if she would like to take the next step and compete for her country, Conway was very enthusiastic about the idea.
“It would be the dream to compete for Ireland, I really want to wear an Irish jersey at some point,” she said. “Hopefully in the near future, I want to go abroad because I’ve never raced abroad.”
Currently studying Food Science at University of Limerick, Conway said she started working full-time when summer holidays began, all with a view to taking off this summer to race in Europe.
“Hopefully I’ll save up a bit and get away in August and learn to ride in the big bunches. And then hopefully I’ll ride Rás na mBan this year.”
While she was very hopeful to taking a medal from Saturday’s championship road race, she said she knew it would be difficult.
“There’s more U23s this year so I was hoping, but it was a bit of a long shot, that I’d get a medal again. And I’m so thrilled that I pulled that off,” she said of Saturday’s 117km title race.
The race was contested over four laps of the 25.3km main circuit followed by one passage of the 9.4km smaller lap before the big finish in Yellow Furze. Conway said her first task was to make the key selection when it happened.
“There was an attack on the second climb on the second lap and then I was in the front group,” she said of the 10 riders who formed the front group that fought it out for the medals. “Once I was there, I knew I was happy.”
Though she held her place there, when the attacks were fired off the front on the final lap, she said she really had to dig in.
“I was swinging at that stage,” she laughed. “I tried to hold it together, I was just counting down the kilometers in my head, just ticking them off one by one. It was getting really intense,” she said of attacks by the likes of Lucy Bénézet Minns (Lotto Ladies), Fiona Mangan (Winspace Orange Seal) and others.
“Every time someone would go and there’d be a counter, and it was just a matter of survival really. But I held it together,” said 21-year-old Conway, from Westport.
After Bénézet Minns spent the best part of the last 20km up the road, she was caught with just over 1km to go. That paved the way for a sprint, won by Mia Griffin (Roland) from Caoimhe O’Brien (Cynisca Cycling) and Marine Lenehan (Dan Morissey Primor by Pissei).
Emma Jeffers (Liv AlUla Jayco Women’s Continental Team) was 4th and Aoife O’Brien (DAS-Hutchinson) was 5th, taking U23 gold and silver respectively, with Conway’s 7th in the combined race securing her the bronze.
