Corcoran’s form and sprint secures him the national title in Dundalk in August; he’s one to watch next year (Photo: Alan Bingham)
National Junior Road Race Champion, Liam Corcoran has said while his study commitments leading up to the Leaving Cert next June will curtail the first part of his 2013 season, he is hoping to hit form and make an impression later in the year.
The 17-year-old from Castlebar, Co Mayo, overcame a bout of pneumonia early this year to get his season back on track, hit some great form and take the junior national title in Dundalk in August.
He says while sprinting is the best part of his game, he has been working on both his climbing and time trialling of late.
“With the Leaving Cert coming next year the training will be a lot on the turbo and doing intense stuff rather than lots of miles,” he told stickybottle.
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“I will still obviously get out for those big long spins, but I will definitely have other pressures on my time until the exams are out of the way. Having said that, this year I was sick so I could do very little training in the early part of the year. But then I got stronger and I really built some great form. So hopefully next season can be the same for me.”
Corcoran began racing at U12 level and while he lifted the U15 national title, his win at the junior championships this year was by far his biggest result to date.
However, a broken elbow at youth level and his illness early this year have resulted in interruptions to his career. He is hopeful of staying healthy in 2013 and making the breakthrough to the national scene.
The Castlebar CC rider is looking to the Junior Tour and National Championships as his big domestic goals in 2013. He bagged third in the Ballycastle stage of this year’s Junior Tour as he built the form that would later bring him the national crown.
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“I’d like to get the fitness up in time for the Junior Tour next year and see what I could do in that but it might be hard to be on top form. Then if I could place in the Nationals or even win it again, that would be amazing. That will definitely be a goal for me.”
“I’d be hopeful that if I could get some results then I might be on the Irish team for the Europeans or Worlds, or even both. The Worlds is in September so with my early season not going to be as heavy with racing as others, hopefully I can be really peaking maybe when others are getting worn out. I guess we’ll see.”
He took the junior national crown in a sprint from a breakaway, beating into second place Matthew Doyle (Foyle CC) who was also second in the junior championship TT and would go on to gain selection on the national team for the World Championships.
Aside from his Nationals victory this year, Corcoran took two second places on stages in the Ballinrobe Two Day in August along with the points classification. He was edged out for the final stage by Robin Kelly (Waterford RC) and missed out on the opening stage when he was left to take the select group sprint for second after eventual winner Colin Cassidy (UCD) took flight for a solo victory.
“If I could improve my time trial I feel I could do better in those short stage races. I can do well in the road race stages but I am losing time in the time trials so that is a goal.”
More recently he was second in the Thurles Halloween Criterium the weekend before last, taking all of the primes on offer and being beaten to the win only by new Rapha Condor-Sharp rider Aaron Buggle.
Corcoran said while he planned to go to third level, he was open to the idea of taking one or two years out first.
“I’d love to go to France or Belgium, see how that goes. Then obviously if I got a place on a big team or something I might give college a miss for a bit.”
More immediately, he believes riders like Matthew Doyle, Thomas Fallon and Jason Prendergast will be threats on the home scene next year. However, given a good run of training and racing he hopes he can progress and gain international selection.
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