Maeve Gallagher has taken podium results in international triathlons in recent months and yesterday rode strongly at the World Championships (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Maeve Gallagher on her strong Innsbruck Worlds
One of the best triathletes, runners and cyclists in the country; Maeve Gallagher put in a strong ride at the World Championships yesterday.
In the junior women’s road race in Innsbruck she took 26th. Gallagher was just behind the last group on the road to get back to the head of the race when a group of just over 20 formed after the first big climb.
A first-year junior riding her first Worlds, she has represented Ireland already; including at the Youth Olympics in Hungary last year and the Youth Tour of Scotland, also last season.
She has been Irish Junior Triathlete of the Year and is Irish Schools Triathlon Champion.
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Added to that, in running she has won medals at the junior cross country championships in the U17 and U18 categories.
Furthermore, she is also the holder of the all-Ireland schools mile record. And that's a clear mark of a very powerful engine.
Even this season she has been a winner at the elite national triathlon series in Ireland and represented her country at triathlon abroad.
She was 3rd in the ETU Junior European Cup in Bucharest in June. And having ridden very well in Innsbruck yesterday, there are exciting times ahead for her.
As a result of having so many options open to her, it is not a foregone conclusion that cycling will hold on to her.
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“I was happy with (the race) considering I'm a first year junior,” Gallagher said after her event yesterday in Austria, where she was part of a two-rider Irish team with Lara Gillespie.
“The course was tough. There was no hiding out there. And there are no hills like that in Ireland.
“But I'm happy with how I did and it was a great experience. The main thing was to try and get a good position going into the first hill.
“I was happy with my position going in. I was up near the front and girls were just attacking and it was split to bits.”
She said she hung in for as long as she could. Furthermore, she was very close to getting back to riders who would eventually join the leaders.
Gallagher ended up in a group after the climb, with three groups just ahead that formed into the front of the race.
Kept trying late into race
But with a lack of cooperation in the small bunch she was in; the groups ahead merged and rode away.
“Coming on to the last hill, I tried to go to the front and put the pressure on and we dropped a few girls,” she said.
“And then the descent was really fast and I was just happy to stay safe,” she added of a race with no shortage of crashes.
And while it was her first Worlds, she said because she has international experience – in triathlon – she was not overly nervous.
“It's my first world championship, but I've done a lot of European races before. So I was just really excited and proud to be representing Ireland.”
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