Eve McCrystal is used to big success as part of a two-rider team. But now she's also champion on her own (Photo: Sean Rowe)
While she sped across the finish line the winner of the National Road Race Championships on Saturday afternoon, Eve McCrystal said she had been under severe pressure just moments earlier.
The climb on the course posed a real challenge for her, especially in a breakaway with three very strong women.
And when the road went up for the final time on the closing circuit, the Louth women was in survival mode.
“The three girls got across the climb without me,” she said of being distanced by Lydia Gurley (Aerocoach), Alice Sharpe (Torelli-Brother) and Kelly Murphy (Chapter 2).
“So I just emptied myself to get back to them. I put my head down and I just went for it. I got them back, that was really tough.
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“And then when Kelly attacked I said ‘Jesus’,” she laughed of having to bury herself hard again.
“I said to myself: ‘I am not coming fourth. I am not coming fourth’.
“That was the plan going into it; just to get over that last climb. It was always going to be hard and very difficult for me.
“And the girls are absolutely so strong. Oh my God it took every ounce of my being to stay with them.”
But stay with them she did. McCrystal is a powerful rider. And once she was over that climb with the leaders, the complexion of the contest had changed.
While the climb was an opportunity for her rivals to drop her, they failed. And when she passed that test, she was on top.
Family went through her mind; her deceased father most of all when the sprint was just about to start.
“The last thought I had coming into the (final) corner; I just remember telling my dad ‘you better be behind me’. That was the last thing I remember.
“I came into and out of the corner fourth and just put my head down and went for it,” she said of her winning sprint.
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Murphy was the first to fade; occupying the lonely place of fourth in a four-rider move sprinting for three championship medals.
In the end it was Gurley who pressed McCrystal closest. But the Garda CC woman took it; her seventh elite championship medal and her first gold.
The four up front had ridden a brilliant race and any one of them would have been worthy champion.
But McCrystal’s was a very popular win. She has captured great glory for Ireland down the years, as pilot on the paracycling tandem with Katie George Dunlevy.
Together they have soldiered in some amazing places and hit heights only the very few do. They are current Paralympic and World champions.
They have enjoyed huge success; a dynamic duo who have each others’ backs as they have blazed a trail for Ireland, paracycling and, indeed, for Irish women.
Those achievements have been recognised, not just in the sporting world but with a whole range of awards away from the sporting sphere.
And while McCrystal is rightly proud of that part of her life; she was on top on her own on Saturday in Sligo. And it meant a great deal to her.
“I’m over the moon and that’s a long time coming. I don’t know how many years now I’ve been trying to get that,” she said having initially been overwhelmed at the finish.
“It is right up there; right up there with Rio. It is very special to do it on my own.
“It’s special to do it with Katie too. But it’s something I didn’t have; just to say I was the national champion. And I am so proud to have that now.”
Not only did she win, but she emerged on top after a great contest. Lydia Boylan has prevailed for the last three years but this time the racing was different.
Twelve months ago there was controversy when the women’s race was forced to stop to let the men passed. A tactical bunch race was blamed; the women had not been racing hard enough, it was said.
That criticism stung many and today was one of the best championship races for years; aggression from the gun with the field splitting to pieces.
“It was the strongest field that I’ve raced in for a national road race,” said McCrystal, giving respect to her rivals. “I knew it was going to be difficult in that field.”
She was already looking ahead less than an hour after her win. Now 39 years old, she also won the Masters title when she sprinted home in Sligo.
“I know,” she laughs, when this is pointed out. “Everyone is going to know I’m not 21, what am I going to do?”
The answer to that question is simple. She’ll continue racing and most likely continue winning; with Dunlevy and also on her own.
But now when she races solo it will be with the national champion’s jersey on her back. And if the last few years are anything to go by, Eve McCrystal will wear it well.
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