Pathway Spotlight - Emer Heverin
Emer Heverin has had a strong start to life in the Junior ranks. Having joined the Cycling Ireland High Performance Pathway at the start of this year Heverin has seen the additional resources bear fruit already in her first junior year.
Heverin has posted some strong results in the first part of the season with her new outfit Cams Majaco, including a fifth at Liege-Bastogne-Liege at the start of May; “That was a really hard course, but towards the end I was feeling good, feeling strong, so I pushed on up the last hill. I was able to catch a few people near the end but honestly I thought there was still more ahead of me!”
“Settling into the new team has actually been really good as well, they’ve been great. And getting to ride in bigger bunches in Belgium and Italy, racing against all girls my own age, some of the best in the world at this age. It’s been an adjustment; the racing is a lot faster and the bunches are bigger, but I’m really enjoying it so far.”
The biggest result at this point in the season however came on Dublin roads as the 16-year-old recently took top spot at the Criterium National Championships. “A hard race, pretty slippy with the cobbles and the weather, hard racing but a lot of fun.” Heverin showed just how strong a rider she is sticking with, and then outsprinting, a group of three heavy hitters; Paris 2024 Olympian Erin Creighton, multi-time Para World Champion tandem pilot Linda Kelly, and last year's Crit National Champion Aine Doherty.
In joining the pathway, Heverin has gotten to work closely with PPP Lead Stuart Balfour. Balfour, having come through the Scottish Cycling and British Cycling underage set ups before spending several years riding as a pro brings with him bags of experience. “It’s been great getting to work with Stuart. He’s not just been helping me with my training but he’s helping me balance the training with exams in the coming weeks as well, which is a huge help for riders my age. We get the obvious stuff, training days, but also workshops around nutrition and psychology.”
Balfour has seen the additional Pathway resources benefit Heverin’s development already; “I think it's been a big step up for her with a bit of a structure. As she stepped up into junior and then more into that kind of high performance space, there’s definitely been a big improvement there and a lot of learning. And I think just starting to understand about what it takes to make that next step up.
And she's already hit the ground running, obviously, with Liege and the Crit Champs, so hopefully we can keep on building from that, and I'm sure she's got a lot more up her sleeve.”
Heverin’s first real taste of big bunches and international racing came at last year’s European Youth Olympic Festival in Skopje, North Macedonia. “It was a good week away but that heat was a big shock to the system. We’re not really used to heat like that but it was great to get to race against so many people from all over.”
Although she’s already taken her first senior national championship, she’s not getting ahead of herself just yet; “I’m not really thinking about the pro peleton yet honestly, I’m not letting it in my head too much. It’s a while away yet, and I just want to take things one race at a time, get some more good results this year, kick on next year and see where I can go from there.”