Eddie Dunbar winner of the Elite Men's Time Trial National Championship at the 2024 Cycling Ireland Road National Championships - Photo Courtesy of Richard Quinn

Eddie Dunbar and Fiona Mangan were crowned Elite Time Trial National Champions on Thursday, June 20th, as Newcastle West Cycling Club played host to the 2024 Road National Championships.

Ireland’s road racing elite descend on Co. Limerick this week for the busiest weekend of the road calendar, kicking off with the Time Trial National Championships.

All able-bodied categories took on a tough 36.3km route featuring long uphill drags on narrow roads, starting and finishing in the village of Athea. Para-cycling riders took on a similar route over a 25.7km course.

In the Elite Men’s Time Trial, Eddie Dunbar and Ryan Mullen were neck and neck throughout, but it was Dunbar who proved strongest in the final run-in to Athea, posting a time just fifteen seconds quicker than his UCI World Tour compatriot as George Peden completed the podium.

Dunbar has seen injuries hamper his 2024 season and admitted that the victory meant a lot to him and will give him renewed confidence for the remainder of the year. He said: “I needed that just to know the legs are there after all the mishaps this year – to get a national jersey is massive. I’ve the full set now between Junior, U23 and Elite so that’s nice and I’m just delighted. I’ll go into Sunday (Elite Men’s Road Race) with no expectations and hopefully I’ve the same legs as today.”

Fiona Mangan was over the moon after taking her first Elite Women’s National Title. Returning to home roads, the Cynisca rider set a blistering time to best Annalise Murphy in an exciting battle for gold as Roisin Thomas took bronze. Mangan said: “I live close by and managed to get out last week and do the course a bit. I really trusted my recon of it and went as fast as I could. It’s so special and such a relief as well because I’ve worked so hard, and I just want to thank everyone that’s helped me throughout the years – this means more to them as well. It’s just so nice to wear the Irish national champion’s jersey.”

Adam Rafferty made it two national titles in a row as he added the Under 23 national title to the Junior title he claimed last year. The Hagens Berman Jayco rider has been tied up with studies in recent months while training hard for the Road National Championships.

In an Under 23 Men’s race stacked with exciting riders, Rafferty’s blistering time saw him finish over thirty seconds ahead of Dean Harvey in second place and a minute and twelve seconds clear of Liam O’Brien in third.

In the Para-cycling categories, Declan Slevin and Allister MacSorley did battle in the H class Hand-cycling Time Trial as Slevin took the victory with Ray Murnane completing the podium.

Ronan Grimes was once again the strongest in the C-class as William Clifford took silver and Richael Timothy earned a bronze medal. The Tandem Time Trial saw Josephine Healion and Linda Kelly set the winning time, the Ireland National Team duo took gold ahead of Damien Vereker and Marcin Mizgajski as Jessica Kennedy and Jennifer Bates finished in third.

In the Junior Time Trials, Conor Murphy put in a fine performance to edge out Seth Dunwoody and Patrick Casey in a talented Junior Men’s podium. In the Junior Women, Lucy Bénézet Minns, made it two titles in a row with a dominant performance. Her Tofauti Everyone Active teammate Aliyah Rafferty claimed second place while Kate Murphy completed the podium.

2024 Cycling Ireland Time Trial National Championships
Organizer: Newcastle West Cycling Club

Time Trial Distance: 36.60 km on 20th June 2024

Junior Women
1. Lucy BENEZET MINNS Tofauti Everyone Active 55:34
2. Aliyah RAFFERTY Tofauti Everyone Active 1:00:08
3. Kate MURPHY Sliabh Luachra Cycling Club 1:05:26
4. Sophie ENGLISH TC Racing 1:05:34
5. Mia SMITH Brother UK-Orientation Marketing RT 1:08:53

Junior Men
1. Conor MURPHY Team Caldwell Cycles 47:00
2. Seth DUNWOODY Cannibal B Victorious 47:54
3. Patrick CASEY Team GRENKE - Auto Eder 48:28
4. David GAFFNEY Villeneuve Cycliste 49:55
5. Samuel COLEMAN AS Villemur 50:26
6. Cal TUTTY JEGG-DJR Academy 52:18
7. Willem O'CONNOR JEGG-DJR Academy 52:42
8. Eoghan LATTIMORE Dungarvan CC 52:47
9. Michael COLLINS Newcastle West Cycling Club 53:29
10. Patrick O'SULLIVAN Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club 57:03
11. Cillian CLONEY Spellman-Dublin Port 57:24
12. Shane WOULFE Greenmount CA 1:03:56

Women
1. Fiona MANGAN Cynisca Cycling 56:05
2. Annalise MURPHY Longcourt Hotel - NCW Wheelers 56:48
3. Roisin THOMAS Un-Attached Connacht 59:19
4. Rachel HARDMAN Forth Velo 1:06:05

Men U23
1. Adam RAFFERTY Hagens Berman Jayco 46:11
2. Dean HARVEY Trinity Racing 46:43
3. Liam O'BRIEN Lidl-Trek Development Team 47:23
4. Conal SCULLY NIPPO-EF-Martigues 49:47
5. Finn McHENRY The Cycling Academy 50:44
6. Curtis NEILL Lyon Sprint Evolution 51:05
7. Lance CHILDS TAAP Kalas Racing 55:42

Men Elite
1. Edward DUNBAR Team Jayco–AlUla 45:10
2. Ryan MULLEN Bora Hansgrohe 45:25
3. George PEDEN Team PB Performance 46:25
4. Darren RAFFERTY EF Education-EasyPost 46:41
5. Marcus CHRISTIE Cycling Club Isle of Man 48:29
6. Conn McDUNPHY Team Skyline 48:58
7. Ian INGLIS Kinning Cycles Cycling Club 50:03
8. Mitchell McLAUGHLIN All human/VeloRevolution Racing Team 52:21
9. Conor VERBRUGGEN Bray Wheelers 52:28
10. Nathan O'REILLY Un-Attached Leinster 54:35
11. Luke McMULLAN Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club 58:05

PARACYCLING RESULTS (Factored Times) Distance: 25.70 km

Handbikes - Factored
1. Declan SLEVIN Rosemount Cycling Club 42:43
2. Allister MacSORLEY Un-Attached Ulster 44:39
3. Ray MURNANE Tandem Cycling Ireland 55:41
4. Seamus WALL Barrow Wheelers 1:01:47

C Class - Factored
1. Ronan GRIMES Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club 34:14
2. William CLIFFORD Galway Bay CC 36:30
3. Richael TIMOTHY Spin the Bean Power by Coffee 37:20
4. Cormac O'CALLAGHAN O'Leary Stone Kanturk 39:03
5. Ivan NALUSWA Lucan Cycling Road Club 42:19

Para Tandems - Factored
1. Josephine HEALION Tullamore CTC 34:14
2. Damien VEREKER Comeragh CC 35:27
3. Jessica KENNEDY Tullamore CTC 54:20

Full results are available here - click here

The action continues with the Junior Men Road Race and the Elite Women (including Under 23) Road Race tomorrow, Saturday 21st of June, and the Junior Women Road Race and the Elite Men (including Under 23) Road Race on Sunday, 22nd of June.