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The rain that marred the first half of the day disappeared by the time the Women’s Elite and U23 race got underway in Co. Meath.

The race saw no major attacks initially, until the main bunch finally split into three groups on the road at around the 35km mark. The leading group of ten riders could not shake each other, despite several attacks from reigning National Champion Fiona Mangan and U23 rider Lucy Benezét Minns. Benezét Minns eventually got a break going into the last lap, with the gap reaching 17 seconds at it’s widest point. The group of 9 riders behind left it until just 2km from the end to catch the Lotto rider, setting up a bunch sprint to decide the title.

Mia Griffin, riding with Roland, is no stranger to sprint finishes, and used her experience to edge out Cinisca’s Caoimhe O’Brien and Dan Morrisey rider Marine Lenihan at the line.

Griffin, taking her first National Championship, said afterwards, “I’ve dreamed of winning a National Championship for so long, it honestly just hasn’t set in yet.” Speaking about trying to catch Benezét Minns, she added: “I know when Lucy gets a good lead she can really suffer and push through, so I was determined to make sure we worked together in the group to catch her.”

The Elite race was also combined with the U23 race. Narrowly missing out on the overall podium, Emma Jeffers of Liv Alulu Jayco took the U23 title. She finished ahead of Das Hutchinson’s Aoife O’Brien and Westport’s Abi Conway. Jeffers said afterwards, “It was a pretty tough race honestly, on a course that doesn’t really suit me. I’ve been trying to find my form recently, and at times today I was just trying to hang on. I was cramping pretty bad coming into the finish and didn’t think I had anything left but I dug deep and managed to find it.”

The Junior Women’s race took off a few minutes after the Elite/U23. Aliyah Rafferty took a big lead early on and managed to hold it for the duration. Dawson Racing’s Greta Lawless and Dungarvan’s Aoife O’Donovan battled to try and close the gap, but ultimately ended up second and third respectively. Rafferty, riding for Tofauti, added the road race National Championship to her Time-Trial National Championship won on Thursday evening.

The Junior Men’s race was a shootout from start to finish earlier in the day. A trio of Conor Murphy, James Armstrong and Rory Condon made an early break. Murphy and Condon eventually managed to shake Armstrong, who was eventually caught by the two chasers Darragh Byrne and Matthew Walls.

Murphy managed to shake Condon, and ultimately rode solo to the win ahead of Condon in second. Walls and Byrne ended up in a sprint for third, with Byrne coming out on top.

Eyes now turn to tomorrow’s Men’s Elite race.

You can find all of today’s results HERE.