Most people in the road racing scene in Ireland already knew Seth Dunwoody's name before last weekend. A phenom youth rider on the domestic scene, he won all around him and made the Irish team for the European Youth Olympics in Slovakia last year. His 5th place in the TT there offered the first proper evidence that Ireland might just have a good one on its hands.
There were also other clues in 2022; six national titles on track and road; a win in an elite race with a long-range solo move; catching and passing an A3-Junior race bunch and breakaway while in a U16 two-man breakaway with Patrick Casey.
But last weekend Dunwoody, a 16-year-old from Co Armagh, took the first big step in his career. He threw himself in at the deep end in his first race as a junior by lining up at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne Juniors (1.1). He was riding for his new team, Cannibal-Victorious U19 Development Team; more about them later. At the end of 116km - some 25km longer than he'd ever raced before - Dunwoody had traversed the cobbles, bergs and narrow farm lanes of Belgium - 70km in pursuit of the leading group - and came away with 11th. That result is another little piece of evidence suggesting Dunwoody might having something special.
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In an interview with stickybottle he has set out how the race went, his schedule and approach to racing in the season ahead. He also explains he's bringing his schoolbooks, and specially planned homework, away with him on his racing trips tp Europe so he doesn't fall behind with his studies.
Speaking of last Sunday's race, a UCI-ranked junior classic in Belgium, Dunwoody said the first section - before reaching the seven climbs, two of them cobbled - was littered with crashes. Thankfully, he managed to avoid them. He said riding in a big bunch packed tightly on such narrow roads "with street furniture everywhere and not really knowing where you're going; that doesn't really compare to racing at home".
"The first climb of the day was the Tiegemberg. We went from a big wide road, and I was well positioned, but as soon as you turned onto a small farm road three bikes wide, I was squeezed further back. And then I had to watch a 17-man breakaway just drift up the road in front of me. I was just behind, but you can't move, you just have to watch it go. That was frustrating, but I guess it panned out in the end."
Once over that climb, Dunwoody attacked "two or three times" and eventually got clear in pursuit of the breakaway in a three-rider group. Riding into a headwind for much of the time - "the wind over there is the real deal" - the group swelled as they picked up some riders from the breakaway while chasers also go across to them.
After chasing for 70km, they caught the front group - which was down to about six riders - as they raced onto the finishing circuit, with just under 20km to go. By the time the catch was made, eventual winner Jarno Widar (Crabbé Toitures-CC Chevigny) was already leading, meaning the group Dunwoody was in was sprinting for 2nd.
The Irish rider decided to follow Steffen De Schuyteneer (AG2R Citroën U19 Team) in the sprint as his team manager had told him to keep an eye out for the Belgian. That proved the right wheel to pick, as De Schuyteneer finished 3rd in the race.
"He started sprinting down that big final straight and I was still in the saddle, holding the wheel and ready to open up,"Dunwoody explains. "And then he jumped left and I followed him but the whole group then came over. I was squeezed up against the barriers, I was trying to get out but I was getting leaned on by another rider. I was staring at the feet of the metal barriers, I got a bit of a fright."
That close encounter meant he had to ease back a bit and he eventually finished 11th. He said the finish was a lesson in "how you really have to fight if you want to be a top sprinter". However, he was very happy with his resul, adding a top 20 placing was his pre-race goal.
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From Hamiltonsbawn in Co Armagh, Dunwoody started cycling when he was "about 6 or 7, mountain biking on local trails". He soon begam going to road races with his father Glenn, who raced with Orchard CC. As the years passed they would pick out races that also had events for youth riders.
Despite having sampled the glamour of the European scene, in what was his first ever junior race, Dunwoody is not getting carried away. In a measured conversation with stickybottle, he came across as mature beyond his years and is intent on enjoying his cycling and soaking up all he can this year.
He spoke with the same enthusiasm about racing against the A1s tomorrow, Saturday, at the Annaclone GP in Banbridge, Co Down, as he did the UCI-ranked races coming up in Europe and much further afield. "There's going to be a lot of very good A1s in races like the Annaclone and that will be fun and I think racing against them will bring me along. And hopefully I can give them a good race."
Dunwoody first competed in a road race as an U12 and was soon showing talent, taking a large number of wins as an U14 and U16 rider. That culminated last year when he won three U16 Irish track titles in the same day at also claimed gold in the road race, TT and criterium at the National Youth Road Championships, hosted by his home club.
He also competed in the European Youth Olympics in Slovakia last summer with the Irish time, placing 5th in the TT but crashing in the last 500 metres of the road race. Dunwoody believes his TT performance was largely responsible for him securing a place for this year with Cannibal-Victorious U19 Development Team, an international junior team linked to the Bahrain Victorious World Tour team.
He explained the team has been operating for over a decade and that its management always tried to find up and coming riders from countries that are not major cycling nations with several top level junior teams. In reality it's a Belgian team but is registered in Bahrain and operates as part of a wider cycling operation under the Bahrain Victorious.
He is currently in year 13 in the Royal School Armagh. "I've one more year after this and exams at the end of this year; engineering, business and travel," he says. He will take some days off school in the next few months to facilitate racing abroad with his team for the remainder of the academic year.
"The team will be in most big races in Europe. I'm set to race in Nokere next week," he said of the 129km Nokere Koerse race in Belgium tomorrow week, featuring 15km of cobbles. "For that race, the flight over there is Thursday and I'll get a spin in on Thursday and Friday and race on Saturday. So that means two days off school. But I've tried to work with the teachers as well as I can, I bring work away with me. When you're out there, you're surrounded by bikes and it's hard to sit down and do school work. But I try to get it done anyhow.
"But for summer; fingers crossed, as soon as I finish my last exam I'll be on a flight out (to Belgium) and I'll not be back until September. But the next month or so I've three or four races lined up and I'll be back and forth, I have the Guido Reybrouck Classic (two-day Belgian stage race) the week after next."
He is coached by 2008 Rás Tailteann winner, Stephen Gallagher, whose Dig Deep Coaching business now has an ever-increasing stable of top riders. Dunwoody said Gallagher had expertly guided him to get into top shape for key events; something that has really helped him secure his place with Cannibal-Victorious U19 Development.
The team will ride the junior Peace Race in the Czech Republic and has also applied to compete in races in Korea, Azerbaijan and Canada. He said he would not be putting pressure on himself this year, adding that between himself and his father, they had always kept things pressure-free. Dunwoody said he had "only felt nerves once or twice in my racing career so far".
"Especially with being a first-year junior, I was a bit nervous going into Kuurne last weekend; there was cobbles and things like that. But I got a good result and I don't feel pressurised by the team or myself to go out and finish in the top 20 every weekend. I feel like I have the freedom to attack and most of these races I'll be in this season, I'll be in them next year again. So this season is pretty much a learning curve. It's about adapting to the European racing and any good result is a bonus after that."
