Having come into the sport just six years ago, as a way
of getting back into shape after his hurling career, Paul Kennedy is now a
national champion.
From Adare in Co Limerick, Kennedy said he got too big for hurling and took up cycling just over six years ago to lose weight.
He shed 22kg and when he stepped into the Irish peloton, though he was well into his 30s, he began winning. And many of those wins came in big A1 races, a stage of Rás Mumhan among them.
He focused on improving his time trialing after clearly
showing a natural ability for the discipline and in 2018 he took bronze in the
elite TT at the National Road Championships; behind Ryan Mullen and Marcus Christie.
Today, now riding for Burren Cycling Club, he was riding the Masters 40 nationals, promoted by Carn Wheelers in Maghera, Co Derry, and took the title.
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His time of 35:21
was 1:55 faster than silver medal man Eoin Woods (North Tipperary Wheelers),
who clocked 37:16. Stuart McCaughey
of Belfast’s Phoenix CC claimed the bronze in 37:39.
Asked how he felt
about winning an Irish title in what is a second sporting career, Kennedy said:
“I supposed you don’t think about that until years later.
“Like that time I
won a stage at Rás Mumhan; at the time I didn’t realise how big it was until
now.
“But you do in
those times when you are not going so well and you see someone like Daire
Feeley lashing us every week. On days like that you appreciate those big past
wins; when you are getting so old,” he laughed.
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Kennedy told stickybottle while he was very hopeful of taking the Irish Masters 40 TT title today, he had suffered an injury in recent weeks and was concerned that may derail his effort today. Thankfully he was able to get himself right with treatment to address the issue and then physiotherapy to aid him back to full strength.
“I did the test
event a few weeks ago so that stood to be today,” he said of his gold
medal-winning ride. “It was fast going out with a tailwind; 50k average on the
outward leg.
“Then it was hard
coming back into the headwind. I was just focusing on holding the power at 380
watts; that was the number.
“This is my first
Masters 40 championships and I was confident that I could win. But with the
cramping I had been getting in the calf when I was injured… If it had cramped
up during the TT today I was gone. But thankfully we got it sorted.”
Now a little older, at 41 years, than when he first jumped from the GAA pitch into bike races six years ago, Kennedy said he has abandoned the big miles he was known for in training, in favour of better quality training.
He has recently begun training under Barry Monaghan, the
former international rider who has been the guiding hand for an increasing
amount of success in Irish cycling down the years.
“It’s high quality stuff rather than I volume,” he
confirmed of Monaghan’s approach with him. “I used to do crazy hours. I’d miss
going to work for the day and go out training instead,” he said.
“But Barry is very good for quality; and with the kind of
training hours that allow for the fact you work and have a family and things
like that.”
Kennedy is a self-employed carpenter – hence previously skipping
work to go training. He said handling the demands of work and training in
recent months was very hard as he had been busy in the day job due to a post-Covid
construction boom.
“But that’s really where Barry has stepped in. He looks after that work-life balance and quality training, so that has been great.”
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