Chris Dawson's secret to success: preparation, technique and. right shoes!
On a highly technical course of roots, rocks and challenging descents, Dawson was able to maintain control, demonstrating his great skill in the most difficult sections and building a solid lead over his opponents. “I wanted to lead the race and control it from the beginning,” said the athlete, who led with a precision strategy, alternating between explosiveness on the uphill and technical control on the downhill.
The road to the podium is not only based on intense training and strategy, but also goes through careful preparation and the right equipment. This was evident at the Irish National Championships, where dedication, confidence and a series of right choices played a crucial role.
Chris Dawson's race report
The big one, it was time for the Irish National Championships and to try and defend my National title for a 3rd consecutive year. It’s a strange feeling coming into the race as the outright favorite. All eyes are on you and everyone expects you to perform which brings about some additional pressure. Even though coming into the race I was very confident in my preparation and the level that I was at, there is always that little bit of self doubt that creeps in. Nevertheless I was super excited heading down to Wicklow for the race.
The event was being held by Team WORC and I had seen images and videos of the course in the lead up to the race. It looked super technical with some great looking features, a course that I knew would play to my strengths.
Carly and I drove down on the Saturday afternoon after managing to make it home from Spain on the Friday evening during the global IT outages (what a relief!) We arrived at the course around 4pm and I headed off to practice. The weather conditions were quite mixed on Saturday and it was raining on and off all day, this caused the course to be a little slick in places but the majority of the course was still bone dry as the tree cover was dense. After about 5 laps and ticking off all the main tech features on the course I was happy to call it a day and head to our accommodation.
We were staying in Bray town around 20 minutes away from the race venue, a bite to eat at a local pub and a pint of good luck Guinness and it was time to head off to bed. The next morning Carly headed off for a run while I did a full bolt check and quick pre race service on the bike before heading down to Bray promenade to meet Carly after her run. My race wasn’t until 3pm so it was nice to have a chilled out morning before heading up to the course.
We arrived at the race venue on Sunday around 1pm and I headed out for a quick lap of practice before my race warm up. The weather on race day was much better and the course looked to be drying up well in the sections that were slick the previous day.
Onto the race, we gridded up and I was ready to go “anytime in the next 15 seconds” and it was go time! Dean Harvey lit up the first climb on the opening lap and I followed his wheel for a good portion of it before moving to the front just before the first forest section. I wanted to try and lead into the first descent and control the race from there. After the first main descent I had managed to distance Dean and Monty and tried to regain my breath after the super fast start to the race.
After the first lap I settled into a fast but controlled pace, I had planned to try to go really hard on the climbs and then ride smooth and controlled on the downhills. There were a lot of rocks / roots that could catch you out and puncture on so the plan was to stay smooth and out of trouble. That is exactly what I did, lap after lap I was ticking off each section and I was really focused on not going off line. 6 laps in and I was on the final stages of the last lap. It was only at this stage that it started to sink in that I was going to make it 3 in a row.
I crossed the line and got the checkered flag, 2024 Irish National Champion! I felt a huge sense of relief as I crossed the line and then excitement knowing that I’d be wearing the national champs jersey for another 12 months!
It’s been an amazing year so far and one that wouldn’t be possible without all the support of my sponsors!
Next up for me will be a UCI race in mid august either in France or Poland in preparation for the World Championships at the start of September.
THE PATH
Want to explore the journey of the Irish National Championships and find out about the challenges faced by the athletes?
Check out the full track to immerse yourself in its technical turns and descents and view race details directly online.
RACE RESULTS
This year’s competitions saw great performances and passionate participation. Take a look at the official results to discover the champions and athletes who took the podium in this exciting competition.
