A member of the Irish team pursuit line-up on the track that has repeatedly lowered the national record in recent years - and medaled at the European Championships - Kelly Murphy has shown once again she can also turn it on in TTs.
The Awol-O'Shea rider went around the 31km course in an average speed of 45.29km per hour to win her fourth Irish elite women's TT crown in five years.
Murphy was almost two minutes up on the woman he won the title in 2021, Joanna Patterson (Wahoo Le Col), the margin between the two some 1:56 to be precise.
And taking the bronze medal, some 2:12 down on the winner, was Linda Kelly, the Spin the Bean p/b Coffee ride who won bronze in the road race two years ago.
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For Murphy, her victory was confirmation that her recent training had put her on track, saying she could not be certain before the race how she would perform.
"I'm really relieved, I think I can relax for another year because, I don't know, every year the competition… I feel like it hots and new people appear and I feel people learn about the game. And so it gets tough for every year, it really does. So I'm very, very happy."
Murphy said she was unsure about her form before this evening's title decider and was "delighted" she had ridden well enough to win.
"You spend a lot of time just training on your own so you never know how you're going to compare next to other people, I guess. So it's nice to know it pays off."
