Kelly Murphy regained the Irish elite TT crown she last won in 2023 and has done so almost a year after stepping back from international competition following her team pursuit appearance at the Paris Olympics.
Bringing her tally of Irish TT titles to five in Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, last night she said she was uncertain of her form going into the race and was “delighted” to win. She beat Paralympian Linda Kelly (Spin the Bean) by 14 seconds and fellow Olympian, Mia Griffin (Roland), by 1:32 over the 25.4km course.
“This one means loads to me,” she told stickybottle. “It was quite a small start list but a stacked start list. Everyone was really good and it was anyone’s today. I targeted this, this was my big aim of the year.”
Having taken “a few months off” after the Paris Games she said she “wasn’t sure if I was going to come back to it”, especially as she had enjoyed herself so much during her time away from the bike.
“But when I did (start again), I enjoyed riding my bike so much more because I was so much fresher. I’m training less and looked forward to riding my bike more. And I think that is what brought my form back.”
And though she has now been crowned Irish champion on the road five times, she said “it means more every time”.
“It almost feels like you’ve…. not necessarily ‘a target on your back’, but people know that you want it, and you mean it,” she said. “It’s like having to ‘pass the test’. And everyone is stepping up more and more with the improvement in equipment and being more dialed in, so it gets harder.”
Murphy, who is based in the UK, said when she rode the course on Wednesday the breeze was more obviously a headwind out and tailwind back, compared to cross-head wind on the night of the Lakeland Wheelers-promoted title race.
“It was a lot harder on the way out than we anticipated and it felt like the roundabout was never going to come,” she said of the turning point at the halfway mark. “It was attritional, it was a really good course. It rolled a lot but there was no let off. So, it was just on all the time, and you knew whoever won it today really deserved it, it was hard earned.
“I felt was on to a good performance. For me, when you can taste blood and you can hold it, that’s when you know you’re going well. I couldn’t have done any more, that was absolutely everything I had in me. And I just wanted to execute a good ride on the day which I think I did.”
Murphy said she planned to ride the TT scene in Britain and was very much looking forward to wearing the national champion’s livery for the next year.
