Maria Larkin said she "panicked" when she broke her shoe in the women's race at the National Cyclocross Championships, losing her lead and slipping back to third place. However, the Chicago-based rider battled on, using her heel to pedal, before changing her shoe in the pits and getting going again.
"We always have a spare set of shoes in the pits, so I'm so lucky. I just got it on and then I just went all in," she said of having to reset and go off in pursuit of junior rider Hannah McClorey (RDFA), who took the lead, and Stephanie Roche (Scott Bright Motor Group), who went into 2nd place.
"I was panicking but when I started to make it back to Hannah, I couldn't believe that," Larkin explained. "I thought I was done for. I knew I was doing well, but then I had that issue with my shoe and I was panicking a bit up the hill. I didn't know how far I was from the pits. But when I got back to Hannah I thought 'I'm having a good day here'. But I just can't believe that race was so stressful."
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That pit stop to change her shoe, while no small matter, was the only blip in what was an otherwise flawless performance. While defending a national title is always difficult, some of the rapidly emerging talent perhaps didn't fire on all cylinders today.
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While young McClorey put in a storming performance for silver and Roche was pleased with bronze, 16-year-old Aine Doherty (VC Glendale) and Roisin Lally (Scott Bright Motor Group) were 8th and 10th respectively and will be disappointed with those results.
Larkin was full of praise for McClorey, saying she was one of several young Irish cyclocross riders now coming up through the ranks.
"She was fantastic," Larkin said of her young rival's silver medal ride. "All the juniors are incredibly inspiring. I'm so excited for the youth coming through. I love racing with them I'm so proud of all the juniors."
Larkin also believed the Cyclocross National Series was a positive step for cyclocross and would really add to scene as the top riders would race each other more often. Larkin rode just one of the four races, opting instead to go to Europe to hone her form during a six-week stay in Ireland for racing and training ahead of today's title defence but believe the series could really help bring on cyclocross.
"You want to see those riders racing together a lot," she said of the new dimension introduced by the national series. "Sometimes you come into nationals and you don't know how everybody is, if you stay in your province or I stay in Chicago."
