Fran Meehan was in a class of her own today and has now called on Cycling Ireland to support the cyclocross scene and send Irish teams to major races abroad (Photo: Sean Rowe)
By Brian Canty
Fran Meehan proved she’s the undisputed queen of Irish cyclocross after a complete annihilation of the field in today’s title race at Ward River Valley Park in Swords, north Dublin.
The Aquablue woman – who is hoping to receive support from Cycling Ireland to represent the country at the upcoming World Championships – was gone as early as the first lap today and just extended the gap to the chasers as the laps ticked down.
It’s the sixth time she’s won the Championships but only the third year she’s received a winner’s jersey, as the other three races did not have sufficient numbers to count as a title race.
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Not that she was complaining after.
Meehan has upped her game further this year and done the champion's jersey proud. She now gets to wear it for another year (Photo: Dc Images)
“I’m delighted, more relieved with today because I didn’t know how Claire (Oakley – XMTB McConvey Cycles) or Maria Larkin (Chicago Cuttin’ Crew) were going.
“I hadn’t raced them before but I just said I’d go out hard and do my own race and after the first lap I had a minute advantage and I got a minute every lap after that,” she explained.
Not once was the Tullamore woman complacent but her healthy margin allowed her to take fewer risks.
“You’re always worried about mechanicals or whether you’d have enough time to run to the line if you get a bad puncture or break a derailleur. So I backed off a little and minded the bike.”
Meehan has many strings to her bow; seen here on her way to the bronze medal in the time trial at the National Road Championships last June (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Meehan had an uninterrupted build-up to today, while racing in Belgium against the world’s best lately told her she was right where she needed to be form-wise.
“I think I’m going better now than I was at that Belgian Superprestige event, absolutely,” she insisted.
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“I trained through my time in Belgium, I didn’t taper for that and I tapered up really well for today and the training went really well since.
“In Belgium I think I could do really well with more racing at that level.
"Right now, I fly in the night before, I go to the races and I get the effort in during the race but I don’t get the power down.”
Little wonder she feels she could at the very least break into the top 20 in those major events against the pros, if given the opportunity of an extended spell of racing there.
Meehan has ridden very well in international races where the best women in the world have lined out including the current cyclocross and road world champions.
The World Championships, from January 31st to February 1st, weigh heavily on her mind also.
“No doubt. I was as high as 25th on the last day in Belgium. I want to go to the Worlds but I have to be selected.
“I’m assuming there’s no budget from Cycling Ireland.
“I think it’d be fantastic for women’s sport and I think they need to look at the bigger picture.
Pushing hard on her way to gold in Swords; a berth at the world championships surely follows the title and a great run against the big guns abroad (Photo: Toby Watson)
“They always say ‘if you’re the best in Ireland it means nothing’ but of course it does. Ee want to put out a message that we are the best.
"When I was riding the tandem (on the track) I was told by a high performance director that you shouldn’t really look at Irish times because they’re not good enough but they were good enough.
“Catherine Walsh and myself; our times were good enough, they were world record pace times.
"We won the Worlds so why shouldn’t we look at what we do?”
The crowd at the finish didn't reflect the sheer volume of people all along the course, mainly packed into those areas that were hardest or where the vantage point facilitated seeing the riders a couple of times each lap (Photo: Toby Watson)
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