The National Champs were held in Kiruddery Estate just south of Dublin, a course which is one of my favourites and which always promises good riding.  We headed down the day before for race practice and I wasn't disappointed.  A 5km loop which doubled back on itself allowing for great spectating, loads of tight twisty singletrack, technical rock sections and the obligatory rock drop AKA Tombstone.  Practice went well, a little cautious on the techy stuff as I was still nervous about re-injuring the wrist but good nonetheless

Race morning arrived and we headed down from the hotel to be greeted with a dull windy day which threatened rain.  The course however was still bone dry and holding up well.  Warm up went well until we were told it would be delayed for half an hour as someone had come down badly at Tombstone and needed to be taken to hospital.  Finally we were gridded up, 7 other riders in the women's elite category including myself, Mel and defending champ Cait.  Off we shot with junior Claire Oakley setting a phenomenal pace.  I followed suit but was on a cold start so Mel and Cait both passed me going into the singletrack.  I got stuck in behind Mel and we each passed Claire as she blew up on the first short kicker of a climb.  Once the course got techy the two girls pulled away and I struggled to catch up.  The next couple of laps I spotted them as I entered the start/finish, but going into the third lap my rear wheel came out of the drop out on a kicker section.  I opted to change the wheel over in the tech zone as I didnt want a rear wheel indicent on a descent and ended up losing even more time as Conor searched the overly crowded feed zone for our wheels.   After that I kind of lost my race mojo although I still worked hard around the course.  In the end I came in 3rd sport behind Mel but 2nd in the Champs race as Mel is inbetween nations at the moment having only recently obtained her Irish