Elite National Time Trial Championships comes to Kilbeggan

Lakeside Wheelers Mullingar is both delighted and honoured to be hosting the 2025 Elite National Time Trial Championships in Kilbeggan on Thursday, June 26.

This is the second time the local cycling club has staged this prestigious event having hosted the full National Championships back in 2014. This year, the Irish cycling federation, Cycling Ireland, has initiated a new development by splitting the running of the Time Trial (TT) and the road races between two different clubs, and Navan Road Club stage the road races on June 28 and 29.

Registration for the event closed last Thursday evening with 74 riders signed on, the largest ever number for the National TT race. It will feature all of Ireland’s best domestic TT specialists as well as some of the World Tour professionals who always come home at this time of year to try and win the right to wear the National jersey for the following year.

With the Tour de France next on the calendar these Championships will be staged all across Europe on the same weekend. The event will also see Ireland’s best paracyclists compete on the exact same course in an attempt to decide the national champions in various paracycling categories.

The 25.5km route will run on the R446 from Kilbeggan through Horseleap to a roundabout just outside Moate where the riders will turn and race back to the finish line on the outskirts of Kilbeggan.

There will be one minute gaps between most of the competitors with that being increased to two minutes between the elite riders. These professionals will most likely complete the course in about 30 minutes which is astonishing as it means they will be averaging over 50kph.

Some of the main protagonists in the male race will be former Irish TT and Road Race champion, Ryan Mullen of Bora Hansghroe, who won the 2014 title promoted by Lakeside Wheelers, current Irish Road Race champion, Darren Rafferty of EF Education First and who, like Mullen, is just fresh from having raced the Giro d’Italia.

There will also be stiff competition from some of the younger guns and Seth Dunwoody of Bahrain Victorious Development and Adam Rafferty of Hagens Berman Jayco and brother of Darren will be vying for glory. Both of these young stars recently shone very bright as they took victories in last week’s Next Generation Giro or the Giro d’Italia for U 23 riders.

On the ladies side all eyes will be on the local girl and Lakeside Wheelers Lifetime member, Caoimhe O’Brien of Cynisca Cycling as she goes to the start with some great recent form. Caoimhe has just raced both the Tour of Catalunya and the Tour of the Pyrenees back to back so she will be gunning to show her speed.

Another local competitor will be Declan Slevin from Rosemount who will race in the hand cycling division of the paracycling competition.

The staging of this race is several months in the planning with a dedicated organising committee from Lakeside Wheelers putting a lot of work into ensuring it runs smoothly. The committee are indebted to the management of the Kilbeggan Whiskey Distillery who have come on board and given the facility over for use as race HQ. There are several other entities that have gotten behind this big race and supported it from the start and who the organising committee wish to thank.

Westmeath and Offaly County Councils, Westmeath Sports Partnership, Cycling Ireland, the Mullingar branch of Westmeath Civil Defence, Gardai from Athlone, Kilbeggan and Moate, Egans Stone, Juliemays Café and Kilbeggan Chocolates as well as members of Esker and Shannonside cycling clubs and of course, the ever faithful members of Lakeside Wheelers Mullingar who always come up trumps for the big events.

Racing starts at 6.30pm just outside Kilbeggan on the Moate road so please come along and see some of the best cycling talent in the world on your doorstep. Roads will not be closed for the TT but race organisers request that local traffic be mindful of the event in place, and also ask all spectators to cooperate with marshals and race officials.