Sam Bennett celebrates with his mother Helen, suffering from cancer at the time, after winning stage 7 of the 2009 FBD Rás in Clara (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan - Inpho and with thanks to RásTailteann.com)
Sam Bennett went into his first FBD Rás in 2009 as a fresh-faced teenager alongside his Dan Morrissey teammates Joe Fenlon, John Dempsey, Mark Power and Hugh Mulhearn.
Stage 7 took the riders 150 kilometres from Castlebar to Clara, a distance Bennett had never ridden in his life.
There was only one climb during the stage. And with a tailwind for much of the day, it meant the race stayed largely intact, resulting in an absolutely chaotic bunch sprint.
Bennett knew his chances of a stage win were running out.
But with his mother Helen – who had cancer at the time – telling him she’d be at the finish line that day, he tells Brian Canty he wanted to put on a show for her.
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“I remember absolutely everything about that day into Clara,” he says now looking back on his win of five years ago.
“It started off wet and windy, the race was in one big long line and I felt I had enough of it.
“I was going back to the car for bottles and I contemplated sitting in and abandoning.
"I didn’t feel good. I was getting it so, so badly at the back of the bunch and I was just half-pedalling.
“The form wasn’t good at the start of that season; everyone was saying I was burnt out.
Bennett gets the better of Joachim Tolles from Germany and sprint legend Jaan Kirsipuu from Estonia to claim his first Rás stage win (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan - Inpho and with thanks to RásTailteann.com)
“I had done too much as a junior and I couldn’t make the step up to senior races.
"They said I hadn’t developed. I was this, and I was that.
“Granted, I went into the senior ranks straight out of junior and I wasn’t getting up in Sunday races.
“The change was something new, the longer races, the stress with mom being sick had an effect on me.
“I had started college down in Waterford and all of that was getting to me.
“So I went into the race hoping to do well but not really knowing what to expect.”
The winner of the previous day's stage into Castlebar, Paul Healion was one of the first to congratulate Bennett on such a key day in his fledgling career (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan - Inpho and with thanks to RásTailteann.com)
The day was perhaps the first big senior win when the Carrick-on-Suir man came of age.
But one man who also made quite a statement was Stephen Barrett, who was riding for the Irish national team.
The Corkman had entered the sport late after playing GAA to a high level.
He went on a solo breakaway and stayed out front for 130 kilometres before being reeled in with 10k to go.
It was then that Bennett started to feel better and better.
“The sun came out, and at the same time the wind died down ,” says the now pro rider Bennett.
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Stephen Barrett of the national team ploughs on alone during his epic 130km breakaway. However, he would be caught, paving the way for the big bunch sprint (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan - Inpho and with thanks to RásTailteann.com)
“My legs came around. All week I was getting closer and closer to the top in the sprints.
“But I was always starting too far back and leaving it late.
“I knew there was a tailwind finish that day and we were flying in the road towards Clara.
“I know if it’s fast coming to the line I’ll do good.
"I prefer that because I might not have a ton of power but I have a ton of speed.
Bennett, right, preparing for the final stage into Skerries the next day with Sean Downey of the Irish national team. Both would progress to the An Post-Chainreaction squad, with Downey now one of its elder statesmen. Bennett moved on 12 months ago to ride for NetApp-Endura this year (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan - Inpho and with thanks to RásTailteann.com)
“So I opened up the sprint at 400 or 500 meters and passed the boys who were dangling at maybe 300 metres to go.
“I knew I was flying because the guy who came second was on my wheel all the way to the line but couldn’t come around me.
"I remember Stephen was out front all day that day by himself. And I wasn’t sure if we’d caught him.
“So I didn’t put my hands up to celebrate for fear of looking like an eejit.”
He would beat some of the fastest men around in the gallop and was immediately smothered by family, including mother Helen.
Bennett may not have gotten his hands up in victory into Clara on stage 7, but Paul Healion of the Irish team certainly did the previous day into Castlebar. Ireland hasn't had back to back stage wins in the Rás since then (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan - Inpho and with thanks to RásTailteann.com)
The emotion of the win and his mother’s illness was all too much for Bennett, who burst into tears.
“Mom had cancer at the time but the first person in front of me when I crossed the line was her.
“The whole thing was very emotional,” he recalls.
“All the stress just disappeared, it meant so much to me and to her and I think you can see that from the pictures.
“When people said things about me, I started to question myself.
The young victor is interviewed by broadcasting legend Roy Willoughby of RTE after an emotional meeting with his mother (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan - Inpho and with thanks to RásTailteann.com)
“I wondered if they were right; if you hear something enough times you could actually believe it.
“So I questioned myself too. But to win that; people go for years in the Rás and never win. Some never will win.
“So I knew the significance of it. I remember the late Paul Healion tried for so many years and when he won into Westport the day before it was amazing.
“I think it was my first major result, it was the first result I truly earned.
"There were other results I got and luck helped me but in that Rás stage everything went 100 per cent right for me.”
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