Olympic silver medallist and former 5000m World Champion runner Sonia O’Sullivan is looking for a challenge… and she thinks she’s found it.
The Cork woman, who now divides her time between Ireland and Australia, was on hand today to present the full race details of this year’s An Post Rás na mBan stage cycling event in Ennis, Clare. The four-day, 400km event is set to celebrate 27 years of international women’s stage racing in Ireland.
Teams and riders from all over Europe, the USA and Australia as well as top local riders are training for September 11th, the day they’ll begin the longest and toughest stage race for women in Ireland and the UK.
And Sonia, after already becoming the event’s patron, has just announced it’s a test she’s going to take.
“I’m always looking for a challenge, something to target, something to aim for,” she told Her.ie.
“Last year I had the Paris to London Challenge Bike Ride and a triathlon. This year I had nothing to aim for and I need goals too, a reason to get up on the bike and the Rás na mBan seems like a different challenge.
“It’s good to learn new things, I’m at a stage where the goals I’d have had for running are beyond me being able to reach them again.”
Orla Hendron (Orwell Wheelers CC), Caroline Ryan (Garda CC), Imogen Cotter (Clare), and Olympic legend Sonia O’Sullivan at the launch of An Post Ras na mBan international Women’s Cycle race in Ennis, Co Clare.
Sonia added cycling to her fitness regime since her retirement from running and cycles regularly when she’s at home in Australia. She has recently been drawn to long distance bike events.
“There’s a different camaraderie with cycling,” Sonia said, “And you can never judge a good cyclist on first glance. They could be a different animal out there to what you expected. A good runner is easy to judge because it’s all about their weight and body shape.
“I like to keep running but I’ve had one or two injuries and it’s difficult to run every day so I’ve moved over to do a bit of cycling which allows me to keep fit and is another outlet.”
“I wouldn’t call my running career an advantage for the long-distance cycling,” she added, “but the ability and the competitiveness is definitely there.
“Cycling is a bit like a marathon in that it takes time and you need to be patient, patience is something I don’t have! If I see an uphill ahead I’ll go for it but it will take a lot longer than you think!”
Sonia with her silver medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
The Cobh woman rode the London to Paris Challenge Bike Ride last year and said she had never ridden that far. The race was more than 100 miles each day for three days but Sonia said she enjoyed the experience.
“Rás na mBan will be a different experience altogether. It’s a women’s event which is great, there’s a different dimension to it and that’s an attractiveness in itself.
“At events you are drawn to women for a chat so this will be all women, it’ll be very different. It should be a fantastic spectacle and it’ll show that women do want to get out there and enjoy and compete in sports.
“It’ll be great for kids to watch too, especially young girls, it could really encourage them to take up a sport.”
Top cycling coach Paddy Doran has been giving Sonia advice before the race and she said there are plenty of bike riders in both Cork and Australia who are keeping her properly trained.
This year the An Post Rás na mBan event headquarters will be in Ennis. The stages will be set in various parts of the scenic Clare countryside.
As well as four tough road stages, the riders will face a team time trial on the morning of the third day followed by a short circuit ‘criterium’ stage in Ennis town centre in the afternoon.
