O’Brien sisters relish challenge of top level continental racing

Last October Lakeside Wheelers held a special awards night to recognise the achievements and contribution of some members in the club. Two of the recipients were sisters, Caoimhe and Aoife O’Brien, who both received Lifetime Membership awards for the impact they have made on the domestic and international cycling stage.

The girls came to cycling through a Lakeside Wheelers youth development programme and are now both riding with dedicated racing teams for the last couple of seasons. They have been two of Ireland’s premier female cyclists since coming out of the underage system and have both won most of the biggest races on the Irish cycling calendar. They have represented Ireland on the European and World stage at both track and road cycling and this week they sat down for a chat to discuss their lives inside and out of cycling, their goals for the coming season and plans for the future.

Caoimhe (22) has just finished her degree in food science and is now fully focused on the coming season with her British based team, Das-Hutchinson-Brother UK. This is a UCI registered team competing at Continental level which means it is a development team aiming to showcase the riders on its roster at European races and hopefully, help them move to the full professional ranks.

Aoife (20) is coming to the end of her first year of business studies and is busy juggling exams with preparations for an upcoming six-week stint in Belgium with her team, Belco-Van Eyck. This is a Belgian based amateur team, structured more or less like a Continental team with the aim also being to promote and develop riders for the higher level professional scene.

In early spring, the girls went to Calpe in southern Spain with their coach and friend, Matthew Devins, for a month’s training to kick-start their 2024 campaigns. That, Aoife said, “was a fantastic opportunity to get a consistent block of training in warm weather and on good roads”, which will stand to them now that racing has commenced.

Training for the girls at this level over the pre-season months is a mix of road work and gym sessions totalling 25 hours a week, which is not easy when keeping the academic side of life going too.

That is the big difference Caoimhe says, in racing against the full-time riders in Europe: “You can just see the power and strength of the professional girls and it makes a difference towards the end of races, as they seem to have a much bigger engine enabling them to finish better.”

Caoimhe added: “Racing against professionals gives us confidence and helps us to learn because you watch them at crucial stages of a race, see what they do, and you know that those are the marginal gains they have over us because we are also studying.”

The sisters are not daunted and instead feel driven and want to see if they too can get to that level. They are also aware that with the accumulation of years of training and racing, the marginal gains will eventually swing to their advantage.

Asked if they feel that cycling causes them to miss out on doing what other 20-something girls do, such as socialising or going on post-exam holidays, both agree that at times it can be difficult.

Aoife said: “We love the structure that cycling on a racing team brings and when we see how much we improve after training blocks or hard races, we know that we are doing the right thing.”

Caoimhe suggests that it’s a matter of mindset and that they simply have different priorities at this stage of their lives but that one day she would love to travel and work abroad.

For the present, the girls are focused on the season ahead, and Aoife heads to Belgium on Monday for five weeks of racing before returning home in June for one of the big goals of 2024, the national championships in Limerick. Caoimhe will be back and forth racing between England, Belgium and Ireland and also returning for the nationals.

Both have unfinished business in a way because last year Caoimhe finished second in the Elite Ladies race but, in her own words, she was “seeing stars” approaching the finish line. “I never thought I could win it, and so was a bit unprepared for how the race developed” but this year she knows that one step higher on the podium is not beyond her.

Aoife, on the other hand, was in her first year in the U23 ranks at last year’s nationals and fought the best she could, but like Caoimhe, now feels that she can be more competitive in this year’s race.

Aside from the nationals, there are several other big races on the calendar. Caoimhe will hope to make selection with her team for the 3-Day Ride London in May, the Tour of Britain in June and Rás na mBan later this year.

Aoife also has similar goals and then they both hope to finish the year off in style at the European championships, which will be held this year in Limburg in the Flanders region of Belgium.

If their schedules allow, they may also be available to ride the Mullingar GP on July 7 in Multyfarnham. Both Caoimhe and Aoife have said they would love to race this event again as they have missed it in recent years due to national team duty or having to race abroad with their teams.

As for a future beyond cycling, the girls say they will have their academic achievements to back up whatever comes their way, but for now, cycling and developing in the sport are all that’s on their minds.

Who could disagree or argue with what these two amazing ambassadors for cycling believe they can do. Caoimhe and Aoife are a credit to themselves and to their family, their sport and their town and everybody at Lakeside Wheelers Mullingar is incredibly proud of them.

We wish them all the best for the coming year and hope that they go on to achieve their dreams.

Club Spins

While the majority of members are aware of the club spins on Saturday mornings, Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings, there is also a ride out on Tuesday evenings which has been ongoing for a few years now.

This is a more intense session and focuses on race specific riding and tactics, which is of great benefit to members who participate in the Midland League (MiL) competition. It is mostly A and B group riders who attend this training but all MiL riders are welcome to attend.

Basically it is a handicapped session with two groups set off at intervals and the aim is for one to chase the other around the Dalystown MiL route. If that interests you, the meeting point is at the Outdoor Escape shop every Tuesday at 6.30pm.

Midland League

The annual Midland League race series started last Thursday evening with an Individual TT event. This year’s league will be staged over 15 rounds till the end of August and Lakeside Wheelers are hosting two rounds, on May 9 and July 4. Steve Franzoni is the club representative on the MiL organising committee and will need marshals for those two rounds, so please help out when the time comes if you can. See the MiL Facebook page for further details and results of all MiL events.

On the open racing front, Lakeside Wheelers were represented by Stuart Cox at the Lakeland GP in Fermanagh last Saturday.

Well done to former Lakeside Wheelers member, Ruairi Woods, who rode a great race to claim his second win of the season at this race. Padraig Moran travelled to Cork on Sunday to compete in the Donal Crowley Memorial.

Sportives

Our good friends in Shannonside Cycling Club are hosting the annual Tour of the Heartlands on May 12, with proceeds going to local charities. The Tour of the Heartlands has three routes and there are 50km, 90km and 110km options. This year, Shannonside have changed the route to incorporate some of the climbs in the Slieve Blooms on the 110km circuit.

Registration is now open on Eventmaster for the event which is always very well organised. There will be a staggered start from 10am from the event HQ at Castledaly GAA club (N37VY64); further details on the Shannonside Cycling Club Facebook page.