Fiona Meade in her club colours of St Finbarr's CC, but she’s riding Rás na mBan for Munster
By Caroline Martinez
Cork woman Fiona Meade is what you could call a veteran of the An Post Rás ma mBan, having raced the event five times.
Last year the 31-year old won the opening stage and got to be the first ever rider to wear the newly redesigned pink leader’s jersey.
This year she’s wearing another colour: the blue County Rider classification leader’s jersey, which she holds on the eve of the final stage.
After stage five she sits in 6th position overall, just 45 seconds behind Danish prodigy Kamille Vallin.
With just one stage to go she is one of the seven women still in contention for the GC.
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“I’m absolutely thrilled with getting second on the stage,” she told stickybottle of today's leg.
“I really wasn't expecting that today – I’m usually not a very good climber and I got dropped on every climb. But each time I got dropped I was able to get back on again.”
“If I came to the finish line and there was a bunch of us, I know from previous races that my sprint isn't so bad and I knew I could give it a good shot. I had seen from the last few days of racing who were the good sprinters; to try to keep an eye on their wheel and try to be in the right place.”
“I thought I was in the right place; I thought I had it but the girl who won yesterday [Karla Boddy] got it. Karla is a brilliant sprinter; I thought I‘d her passed but next thing she came around me again and she just got me on the line.”
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“It was a great stage, really tough. The climbs were really hard and I got in a good break where everyone one was working and everyone was riding.”
Meade went into the County Rider jersey today after the holder this morning Louise Moriarty missed today’s breakaway.
“I actually didn't realise I was in the jersey until later this evening. To be honest I was happy to be in second in the county rider classification, so it was a total surprise.”
Her success in this year’s event thus far comes after a period in which she decided to deprioritise racing in her life.
“This year I decided to prioritise my family and friends and other things that are important in life. As I did that, I fitted cycling around life but it meant I wasn't able to go to all the races because of different events that were on. I kept training consistently with a bunch in Cork who I’m grateful to for giving me the strength to get the results here.”
“Sometimes over the past few years I was getting really tired, but this year I was a little more relaxed in my approach.“
She recalls this year’s Gorey Three Day as a turning point in her life as a racer.
“On the second stage I was sitting in the middle of the bunch and I just pulled up in the hail and I said 'I don't know if I want to be here'. I thought I might feel better for pulling out. But I didn't; I felt worse and I started crying. The lads on my team didn't know what to do with me and I said: 'You know what? This year I can't do it. It's not for me, racing this year’. But I’m so glad I kept training because I am thoroughly enjoying this race.”
This year Meade put together the first ever Munster team especially for Rás na mBan. She managed to gather four riders: 19-year-old Nicola Doherty, Emma Walsh, Anne Keohane and herself. She says she’s excited to see more women cycling and racing.
As for tomorrow’s final stage, at 45 seconds behind the leader Meade is one of seven riders still in with a chance to win overall.
Whatever the result, when she looks back on her last five years she knows she has come a long way since first entering this race back in 2007.
“Back then I was on my aluminium bike. We were sitting in the car thinking we were in completely over our head, taking our puncture repair kit thinking: ‘It doesn't look like anybody is carrying theirs we better take them off’.”
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