UCD’s Sports Scholar and defending Cross Country Elite Mountainbiking Ladies Champion, Cait Elliott, was in determined mood as she signed on for the biggest and most prestigious event of the domestic season.

The race, covering 3 laps of a testing course, was organized by Epic Mtb and took place in the picturesque Djouce Woods in Enniskerry, County Wicklow on Sunday 18^th of July.

Despite being very well prepared for this race, the architecture student admitted that the  pressure of defending her title weighed heavily on her shoulders at the start line as she was all so aware of the pitfalls that might lie ahead such mechanical breakdown or a crash, especially as overnight rain had sections of the course particularly slippery.

A poor start saw her fall back to 4^th position early on the first ascent but knowing the importance of leading into the single-track climb that lay ahead, Cait dug deep and put in an enormous effort to sprint into the lead. From there she put her head down and pedalled as hard as she could for the remainder of the first lap, which comprised of mostly technical single-track climbing followed by a fast descent over a variety of terrain. By the end of the opening lap, Cait had already opened up a commanding lead over her nearest competitor.

The opportunity to claim a new national jersey, coupled with the atmosphere created by cheering spectators - many of whom clanged cowbells, proved enough motivation for her as she steadily increased the time gap on her rivals to the finish line. Cait comfortably finished the race in a winning time of one hour, thirty one minutes and thirty five seconds, a highly impressive eight minutes and six seconds ahead of Ulster competitor Ciara McManus. Shona D'Arcy from the promoting Wicklow club took the bronze medal.

UCD CC would like to thank Think Bike (Rathmines) for the loan of spare wheels for the event.