A year older and a year stronger, the Leaving Cert may be looming for Greta Lawless (17) but she is going from strength to strength on the bike. An established winner at elite level since the cyclocross season began, Lawless is now looking ahead to bigger goals this winter and beyond.
Since she burst onto the senior scene just over 12 months ago - having stepped up to first-year junior - she has banked some incredible experiences and results. "I definitely feel stronger than last year," she says of her recent cyclocross wins.
A silver medal in the elite National Cyclocross Championships at the start of this year was followed by elite gold in the National MTB XC Championships. In between standing on those podiums, she has ridden the junior Worlds in both cyclocross and MTB.
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She told stickybottle she would have to pick and choose her races carefully in the months ahead as the exams are a key goal for the 6th year student in St Conleth's College, Dublin 4. But the Team WORC rider's goals are clear and they involve international racing by year end and next summer, with some road racing.
This season she has already won a round of the National Cyclocross Series, taken victory at the UCI-ranked Verge Cross Clonmel and also claimed victory at the Ulster Cyclocross Series, last week. She has looked like she is in a class of her own.
"I've had a consistency in training and a lot of zone 2 spins on my own," she laughed. "But the season seems to be going well so far. Though I'm not going to race as much as I did last year, I did a lot of racing last year and got a lot of experience."
Looking ahead, she is hopeful of a good ride in the UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Dublin on December 1st, when - subject to selection - she will race against many of the best juniors in the world.
"I think the Dublin World Cup is such a good opportunity for Irish riders especially, because it's a world class event. So hopefully I will get picked for that," she said. "I remember watching the races the first year, two years ago, and thinking 'this is crazy'. There were a lot of big names there.
"And last year, even though there wasn't as many big names, actually being in the race was a whole different experience. Being Irish, in a Dublin World Cup…. the fans were… it was kinda crazy, you felt really important, it was really cool," she laughed.
Next year
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She would also love to ride the UCI World Cyclocross Championships in Liévin, France, in the New Year.
"I was at the worlds last year and I wasn't really happy with my result, I'd like to give it another shot," she said, adding stepping into the Worlds she was struck by the strength of the field.
"And as a first-year junior I definitely wasn't as strong. But I ended up getting loads of experience from those races, learning things in every race. So this year I'd like to use that experience."
Lawless is also eyeing up some cyclocross racing in Europe during the Christmas period when she is on school holidays. And MTB racing in Europe is also firmly on her agenda for next summer, with plans in the works.
Having taken two 2nd places in the British National Series she has tested herself already and done well, though her hopes to go to Europe next year would be a bigger step.
She says while she came to cycling through MTB - no surprise considering she lives in Kilternan - she has enjoyed cyclocross "more and more" in recent years and is loving the new season so far.
While she did not race on the road this year, she did some road racing in 2023 as she needed to secure selection for the European Youth Olympics, as an U16.
"I'm thinking next year I might do a few selected races because I think it's good; riding in a bunch and getting used to that," she said. "I liked the road when I did it. It's a different style of racing, more tactical at times.
"I did enjoy it, I liked the speed of it. Mountain biking will definitely be the main focus next year, but with road racing here and there."
Last season she rode the junior race at the MTB World Championships in "amazing" Andorra. Though the altitude was talked about in advance, she felt she coped well. However, she also believed she may have done better with a training camp beforehand, as many of her rivals had done.
"I was probably around where I expected, but I was hoping for more," she said of finishing 36th of a 60-rider field. "If I had been over there for longer, maybe I could have got more used to it. But I did as well as I could at the time. The World Cup now will probably be my next race and I'll keep training until then."
