Former Lakeside Wheelers rider, Jenny Fay is riding very well off road in her new base in Australia and recent made the front of Enduro magazine. She's riding Rás na mBan and climbing with the best of them.
Ireland’s Jenny Fay has returned back from her base in Australia to ride An Post Rás na mBan and having made the escape on Thursday before Team Ireland duo Olivia Dillon and Mel Spath took flight, she grabbed the queen of the mountains leader’s jersey for her efforts.
Rás na mBan gives Fay the perfect opportunity to show off what she can do. Having moved to Australia a few years ago, she hasn't had the chance to measure herself against the rest of the Irish riders in a few years.
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“It is my first Rás na mBan,” Fay told stickybottle.
“I did something similar maybe eight years ago, and I was on the Irish team for it. This is something completely different from what I am doing these days.”
Fay, who has been living in Canberra, has now turned to mountain biking. She specialises in Enduro racing as part of the Team Swell Specialized squad where she is enjoying a very successful season so far.
And while she is now specialising off road, she is still riding on the road in Australia at times and has won some climbers' classification jerseys there. She says she enjoys it and often uses it as training for her main priority off road.
“My life as a mountain biker now is going well ns the WorldTour,” said the winner of the recent UCI World MTB Series round in Val Di Fassa, Italy.
Aside from riding An Post Rás na mBan, where she relinquished her climbers’ jersey on the penultimate stage today, Saturday, there is another reason for Fay’s latest visit home; a white and green jersey.
“I’m racing the Irish Mountain Bike Marathon Championships later this month in Ballihoura which is my big goal for the season. I’ve won the race in Australia this year but because I’m not Australian I could not win and the champion’s jersey went to second place.”
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“I want to win the Irish champion’s jersey and bring it back to Australia because I’ll wear it almost every day; I race so many marathons over there. It would be a great addition to the team collection.”
“We already had a national champion jersey on our team, although it was lost this year. I want to get this one back on the team. It’s great exposure for Irish racing. Ireland is hosting the European Marathon Championships next June in Ballihoura, which is huge. And that motivates me to train extremely hard for the next ten months.”
For now she is enjoying being back home, among family and friends and doing what she loves best.
“It’s been so good being back. Everybody is embarrassing me about my success back in Australia and I didn't realise how keen everybody was. And all the friendly faces here certainly made a difference and motivate you to want to race hard here.”
“When you're in Australia, you’re in a bit of a bubble and you’ve no idea what’s going on on the other side of the world. My old local club Lakeside Wheelers are big fans and it’s so nice to come and see that all your hard work is paying off.”
Jenny Fay (centre) after recently winning the UCI World MTB Series round in Val Di Fassa, Italy
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