Dean Harvey (Trinity Racing) was the heavy favourite for the elite men's title at the National Cyclocross Championships in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, today. But if the U23 rider was feeling any pressure, he didn't let it show.
The winner of the Irish crown for the last two seasons made it three-in-a row-today as the rain began to fall just in time for the men's event; the final fixture of the weekend in the Ballinasloe Cycling Club promotion.
Harvey pushed himself forward from the gun, going into an early lead, and being chased by former elite champion, Darnell Moore (Caldwell Cycles), who was alongside Travis Harkness (Lyon Sprint Evolution).
As Harvey began to push clear solo - from the start of the second lap - Moore and Harkness looked evenly matched. There was then some daylight opening back to Tadhg Killeen (Kilcullen Cycling Club Murphy Geospacial), who crashed hard on the first lap, and then another gap to Richie Barry (St Finbarr's).
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However, while Moore and Harkness battled it out in the silver-bronze medal positions, Harvey remained well clear alone. He glided around the very technical - but extremely spectator-friendly - course at Fair Green in the centre of Ballinasloe over one hour of racing.
As Moore began to nudge ahead and reach for the silver medal, just after the halfway point, Harkness suffered a minor crash at the end of the fourth lap. That saw Moore further open the gap a little and it resulted in Killeen closing the gap, by a small margin, up to Harkness.
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Killeen was never out of the medal fight. Even though Moore and Harkness at one point put a decent chunk of time into Killeen - 10 seconds or more - the Kilcullen man always kept the faith and stayed in touch.
On the penultimate lap, Killeen really began to close on Harkness and the destination of the bronze medal was open to question - though Harvey and Moore were comfortable in the gold and silver medal positions.
In the end, the battle for bronze was won by Harkness in a very close sprint to the line against Killeen; the duo coming together on the final lap and setting up an exciting sprint for bronze.
To say Harvey ran out a comfortable winner would be to underestimate the opposition, and Harvey's own efforts.
But he had plenty of time to savour his third gold medal in as many years and if somebody is going to topple him in the next few seasons, they will need to bring a special performance.
More to come.
