Sean McKenna took his season tally to nine with victory in the Peter Bidwell Memorial in Donore at the weekend after making his Nations Cup debut with the Irish U23 team last week. Above, winning the main event at Rás Naomh Finian in Co Meath (Photo: www.jimmymcelroy.com – follow Jimmy on Facebook and Twitter)
By Brian Canty
Sean McKenna has had another week to remember; taking his ninth win of the season and making his highly-anticipated Irish U23 debut abroad.
The Aquablue man was part of the national team for last Wednesday’s Cote de Picardie Nations Cup event in France where teammate Eddie Dunbar lit up the race with a stunning 100-kilometre solo break out front.
It was an experience McKenna thoroughly enjoyed but one he felt he should have made more of; having crossed the line in 65th one minute down on winner Simone Consonni of Italy.
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“I really felt I should have finished in the bunch,” said the UCD student.
“I thought I had the legs to and I should have but instead I was wasting energy getting caught behind crashes and stuff.
“I was disappointed but it was my first one so I’m not too down about it. You have to learn the racing and I’m sure I can pick up the style of it quickly enough.”
In yellow on the final stage of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan two weeks ago; a race he would win with the Irish development team (Photo: John Coleman – Dc Images)
Indeed, McKenna said it was “very different” to Irish racing for a number of reasons.
“The first hour is the hard racing,” he explained.
“It’s fast, lined out, you get a few attacks in but when Eddie got away the race stopped, it went piano, it was scary how slow it went.
“Lads just stopped for a pee or whatever and it’s like that for two hours, and the last hour you race hard again.”
He continued: “What I found was how compact the bunch is, it’s very hard to move up.
“The experienced lads are able to get around, Jack (Wilson) was really good. It was a pity he crashed because he had a good result in him.
McKenna has come a very long way in just a couple of seasons. His breakthrough year came just last year; the former UCD CC man blowing clean out of the water any notion that a stellar junior career is a prerequisite for becoming a leading U23 rider (Photo: Pawel Sadowski – Shutterstills.com)
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“The top 20 stays the same; the big nations, the Australians, Germans, the Dutch and GB are up there.
“And after that it’s everyone fighting for 30th spot behind them and it’s carnage; riders riding up the ditch and falling into fields and whatever.
“Every 10 minutes there’s a slam on the brakes, if you try to move up the brakes slam and everyone goes backwards and you start it again.
“It’s so different, some riders just go through gaps that aren’t there.
“I came back this weekend and noticed it; there's room for two bikes between each person!”
In response to questions on the subject, McKenna said he did not speak with Kurt Bogaerts about a possible move to An Post Chainreaction later in the summer or in the future.
But he did little to prevent an advance by Bogaerts – the An Post-Chainreaction and so-time Irish U23 team manager - with another strong win on Saturday.
The Famous Five: McKenna, standing, at the World University Championships last year. He was in a team with, from left to right, Danny Bruton, Ali Macaulay and Marc Potts; all managed by former An Post-Chainreaction man Ronan McLaughlin, white t-shirt.
This time victory came in the Peter Bidwell Memorial in Donore.
“It was weird, it’s the first time I had fellas on me,” he recalled of the 51-kilometre race.
“It was hard to get out of the bunch. I had (teammate) Colm Cassidy with me so he was getting up the road and it was grand.
“He was unfortunate not to get a result (he was sixth) but on the last lap (Mark) Dowling attacked and I went with him.
“He got across to the three or four up ahead, I was on his wheel and as soon as he got across they all stopped and I just went to the right hand side.
“(The attack was) a bit sneaky; they didn’t see me go. I got a bit of a gap and that was it.
“I won it last year so it was one I wanted and it worked out somehow.”
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