Irish and British national champions Fran Meehan and Nikki Harris line up in Holland before bad luck put a story to Meehan's charge.
By Brian Canty
National Cyclocross Champion Fran Meehan had a week that will live long in her memory after representing Ireland in a UCI Nocturne Cyclocross race in Holland.
No stranger to representing Ireland before and having competed against the very best in the world in the off-road discipline in its spiritual home of mainland Europe, the Tullamore Aquablue rider says she would love more of the same.
On Friday October 18th she boarded a flight from Dublin and the following day won an interclub race in Holland run by the local club in Woreden; increasing her confidence as he faced into her first Nocturne Cyclocross event the following Tuesday.
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The Nacht van Woerden attracted the likes of British national champion Nikki Harris (Young Telenet-Fidea), multiple US Champion Katie Compton (Trek Cyclocross Collective) as well as recently crowned World Road Race Champion and local favourite Marianne Vos (Rabobank Liv/Giant). The race was started by Ellen van dijk.
And though Meehan acquitted herself well, working her way up the grid, she suffered bad luck near the end of the second lap and rolled a tubular, bringing her race to a premature end.
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“It was a fantastic opportunity but just so disappointing for it to end the way it did,” she said.
“I rode with the best in the world, Katie Compton, Niki Harris, Helen Wyan (European champion), Vos; they were at the front of the grid and it was just amazing to be there in front of a crowd of around 5,500 people.”
“I was 35th on the grid starting off but after the first lap I was up to 20th, I got up to 17th before the crash; I was gutted. I had never used tubs in cross before and glued them on myself and I was a bit disappointed my own handy work let me down,” she explained.
“I love cross. I started to do it to improve my bike handling because it wasn’t great. It was a brilliant experience and I’d love to go back. It was a real carnival atmosphere. It was great for the first international cross race I’ve done and the biggest I’ve ever been in.”
Meehan reserved special praise for Dublin Wheeler Donal O'Brien and his wife Evelyn who looked after her while she was in Holland.
"They were just brilliant," she said.
"Donal organised everything for me, he did a lot of work in the Youth Olympics this year, and was a big help to the Irish team that went out. He does a huge amount behind the scenes and was even one of the volunteers setting up the course for the nocturne the night before."
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