2024 Cyclo-cross National Championships Preview
The 2023/24 Cyclo-cross season reaches a climax this weekend as the National Championships take place on Saturday and Sunday, January 13th and 14th.
Hosted by Greenmount Cycling Academy, the championships represent the first major event of 2024 as the best Irish cyclo-cross riders from at home and abroad do battle.
An exciting Cyclo-cross National Series culminated with round six taking place in Kilgobbin last weekend as riders fine tuned preparations for what should be a fantastic weekend.
An exciting course awaits, and with championship and non championship racing across a range of categories, there's something for everyone at this weekend's National Championships.
Here's everything you need to know ahead of the 2024 Cyclo-cross National Championships:
Dates & Location
The 2024 Cyclo-cross National Championships will be held across the weekend of Saturday, January 13th, and Sunday, January 14th.
The championships will take place at Limerick Racecourse, Greenmount Park, Patrickswell, Co.Limerick.
Eircode: V94 K858
Schedule
Saturday, January 13th
Sunday, January 14th
Riders To Watch
Dean Harvey
The reigning Senior National champion, Harvey has had a busy Cyclo-cross season and comes into the championships off a block of racing in Belgium among elite international riders. A dominant winner of the race in 2023, Harvey is the rider to beat in the senior race.
Maria Larkin
Larkin returns to Ireland to defend her Senior Women's title after a busy Cyclo-cross season. The US-based rider has competed in the UCI Cyclo-cross Dublin round in November as well as a number of international races in Belgium over the festive period.
Johnny McCabe
The rainbow jersey will be on full display this weekend as Johnny McCabe seeks to defend his M60 title. After victory in the World Championships M65-69 race, McCabe is not only one of the most decorated Cyclo-cross rider in Ireland - but also among the best masters riders in the world.
Aliyah Rafferty
The future of Cyclo-cross in Ireland is exciting, and that'll be evident in the junior women's race (incorporated into senior women's race). Rafferty has made the step up to junior level with ease and has enjoyed some brilliant battles with Greta Lawless and Aine Doherty in the Cyclo-cross National Series while the trio also represented Ireland in international competition this season.
Conor Murphy
The junior race is sure to be another cracker this weekend. Conor Murphy, after taking some impressive results in Belgium last month, is the rider to watch as he does battle with other talented riders such as Joseph Mullen and David Gaffney.
Kevin McCambridge
Kevin McCambridge is one of the riders eying up a challenge to Harvey in the senior race after tasting victory in round five of the Cyclo-cross National Series. In a talented senior field, McCambridge is joined alongside Travis Harkness, Darnell Moore, Jamie Meehan and Tadhg Killeen in a talented list of contenders.
Robin Seymour
A legend of Irish Cyclo-cross, Seymour comes into the championships after organising a fantastic final round of the Cyclo-cross National Series with Team WORC and taking a third place among the senior riders. In a hugely popular category, Seymour faces fresh competition in Alan Bingham - with the 2022 M40 champion stepping up to the M50 category for the first time.
Course Description
Course Designer Liam Kennedy said:
"What we've tried to do is encompass everything that is available to us up in Greenmount Cycling Academy. We're very lucky to be able to have here (Limerick Racecourse) as the venue for the National Championships. We're using as much of the sand as we possibly can, we're sticking in a few little extra sections for that."
"We're using a big long start/finish straight. We've got a lot of off camber bits; in those sections they're going to be really tricky and will call on everybody's skills basically to ride them. One of our sponsors who've come on board have graciously built us an incredible feature that will be there permanently - we won't tell you now, but we'll invite you to come and see it! We're looking forward to having everybody here."
Quotes Corner
Race Organiser Vinny Gleeson said:
"We'd like to welcome everybody here on the 13th and 14th of January for the 2024 Cyclo-cross National Championships. We've good entries in every race with our youth races and M50 and M60 races on the Saturday. On Sunday we're excited for the M40 race, Women's race, junior and senior races."
"Over the last few weeks, we've had some great help from all of our sponsors and Limerick Racecourse have been absolutely fantastic and facilitating us in getting everything ready. We're looking forward to a great two days of Cyclo-cross racing."