Esther Wong has continued her transition into the Irish scene with victory in the senior women's race at the National Cyclocross Championships hosted by Ballinasloe Cycling Club in Co Galway today.
The teenager, now a first-year U23 rider, fought it out at the front with Greta Lawless (Team WORC) today and got ahead of her rival in the second half of the four-lap race.
At the finish, Wong (Hess Cycling Team) was 21 seconds up on her nearest rival, with Hannah McClorey (Doltcini-Cycle Division) coming through very strong for bronze having passed former champion Maria Larkin (Cuttin Crew-Donkey Label) on the final lap.
"I'm really happy, I'm so proud to be the champion. I've always dreamed of being national champion and for it to come true feels so good," Wong told stickybottle as she cooled down on the rollers after her win in Ballinasloe.
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"It'll be so cool to wear the shamrock in front of an international crowd. It will be amazing."
Wong said she and Greta Lawless (Team WORC) pulled clear a little early in the race and as they raced at the front she felt they were "very similar" in terms of abilities.
"I was going in with a plan of not going too hard at the start because, normally, I'd go out too hard and then die. And I thought, because Greta is the same ability as me, I couldn't risk that. So I tried to keep it backed off a bit for the first half.
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"Then she did a bike change and I saw there was a bit of a gap so I thought 'right, now is the time to attack'. I did that and it was hard to keep the gap… I did it, but there was no time to relax in that race. She was always there, it was quite scary."
Wong said the high frequency of corners so exposed the fact her pressure was too high at the start as she was slipping and so opted for a bike change.
"Once I got that pressure change I felt more confident on the corners, I didn't slip," she said, adding it was a special feeling turning the final corner, some 21 seconds up on second-year junior Lawless.
"I thought 'I can sit up now'… I saw the gap and I was very, very happy," she said, adding she would keep her cyclocross season going if selected for the World Championships in three weeks time in France.
In terms of her road racing in the year ahead, Wong will compete for Hess Cycling Team, a UK-based Continental squad with plenty of European racing on the agenda.
"We haven't got our race calendar yet but we'll get that soon," she said. "I've got a training camp with the team in February and racing is due to start around March."
Having done her A Levels last year, and deferred a place in Sports Science at Loughborough University, she is free to give cycling her full focus in the year ahead.
