Titles at the double and medals galore for the Rafferty siblings

EDENDORK’S Rafferty siblings enjoyed a sensational weekend of success at the 2024 Cycling Ireland Road National Championships hosted by Newcastle West Cycling Club.

The eldest of the three, Darren, won the Elite Men’s Road Race for the first time after a thrilling battle with Dillon Corkery, while Adam was crowned under-23 men’s time trial champion on the Thursday night, while the youngest of the siblings, Aliyah, finished second in both the junior women’s time trial and road races.

For the three family members it was a weekend of firsts, with each of them competing in a new category in the National Championships and the trio all excelled at the higher standard.

The Sunday of the event proved one that Darren, who races at World Tour level for the EF Education team, will never forget.

Having suffered a disappointing run in the time trial three days earlier when he came home fifth, the 20-year-old had minimal expectations in the road race, particularly after a less than ideal build-up to the championships as illness meant he was unable to prepare properly.

But the more relaxed mindset that approach allowed him to adopt worked in his favour on a day when he had more than enough to deal with – two bike changes mid race, cramp and a hard-charging Corkery.

“It was good because this year, after the TT which didn’t go so well – it was pretty low compared to what I was expecting. I was hoping to win it, but I got sick after my last race and I hadn’t done much training, so I had no real expectations,” he explained.

“But that took the pressure off myself, which was the best thing because the last four years [at Junior and then Under-23 level] I’ve always come in with the pressure that I need to win. It was kind of expected from other people and from me and I put too much pressure on myself and pushed too hard in the first half of the race.

“Whereas this year I sat back, relaxed a bit more and I had it in the legs come the end, which I needed because Dillon kept me honest!

“He was cramping, so I thought I had it and then my legs started to go, so I was stressing a bit but I managed to keep a big enough gap to win it and I’m chuffed to bits.”

Darren’s younger brother, Adam, who finished outside the medals in the road race, was also celebrating a National title in County Limerick after he added the Under-23 men’s time trial crown to the junior men’s title he won 12 months earlier in Tyrone. The Hagens Berman Jayco rider has been tied up with studies in recent months while training hard for the Road National Championships.

In a race stacked with exciting riders, Rafferty’s blistering time saw him finish over 30 seconds ahead of Dean Harvey in second place and a minute and twelve seconds clear of Liam O’Brien in third.

“It’s nice to be able to keep the title moving up in the age-groups,” he beamed. “It was an exciting course and I haven’t really had much racing, I’ve been doing exams, so it’s good to know I’m at that level going into the summer. It gives me confidence for the year going ahead.”

And not to be outdone, younger sister Aliyah also had plenty to celebrate at the National Championships where the first year Junior woman, claimed silver medals in both the time trial and the road race, finishing behind her Tofauti Everyone Active teammate Lucy Bénézet Minns in both.