When Island Wheelers CC was confirmed as promoters of this year's National Road Championships, all the talk was about how the local Rafferty brothers would do. That question was answered last night when 17-year-old Adam Rafferty won the Irish junior TT title and his older brother, Darren (19), retained the U23 crown.
While Darren has been a star this season, finishing 2nd in the Baby Giro earlier this month, Adam has also shown great promise, especially against the watch. The brothers seized their chance last night in Dungannon, Co Tyrone; Adam prevailing in a race of seconds while Darren claimed the U23 title race by a slightly bigger margin.
"In the final kilometre, it was just all out effort, there was no pacing, nothing," Adam said of the junior title race where the time checks on the course at points showed the top three were within a second of each other. Those three riders were Rafferty (Team 31 Jolly Cycles U19), Liam O'Brien (Fermoy CC) and Patrick Casey (Anexo Group Race Team).
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"When we came to, I think, 5k to go, the top three were all separated by one second, I was one second down. But, obviously I know the roads, and I thought the other boys might be quicker on the big main roads but I thought if I could get to that time check, I could start pulling time out.
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"And thankfully that's what I ended up doing. But I couldn't believe it when I crossed the line. It's been a while since I won at national championships, it was under-12 when I last got it. So it's great for both of us to do it on the one night."
Rafferty emerged with gold, after 31km of racing, by five seconds from O'Brien, with Casey in 3rd at just 12 seconds.
His older brother, Darren (Hagens Berman Axeon), said he was delighted to win; taking his second U23 title in two tries after also winning the junior title in both of his junior seasons. He won the title by 32 seconds from Dean Harvey (Trinity Racing), with Kevin McCambridge (Trinity Racing) in 3rd at 58 seconds.
"I think having nationals at home is extra special," Darren said. "Our grandparents are here and people have come down to see us, it was really special.
"I just gave it everything I could and it was really nice to take the win and to have another six months in the jersey, I know I'll enjoy it. I'm looking forward to Sunday, the road race should be interesting. It's been a good start to the week and I'm really pleased for Adam, it's nice to see both of us taking the win, I'm very happy."
