More major national success for Mountcharles cyclist Jamie Meehan

"Yeah, quite happy," was the understated reaction of Jamie Meehan after he won the U-23 Irish Cycling Championship and also finished second in the Elite Road Race at the weekend.

"Obviously it would have been nice to take the Elite title, being so close to it, but considering the course I could be happy enough," said Meehan.

The Mountcharles native was winning his second Irish U-23 title, but it was his first time to be in contention in the Elite race, the pinnacle for Irish cyclists. This performance comes just a short time after Meehan finished second in Rás Tailteann and the following week finished second in a leg of a prestigious five-day tour event in France.

The 2025 Road National Championships were hosted by Lakeside Wheelers and Navan RC in Meath. Rory Townsend, who was previously the winner in 2022, took the title getting the better of Meehan in the final sprint.

Speaking after the recent Rás success, Meehan was not overly optimistic about the National Championships as he felt the stage setting did not have enough climbing difficulty to suit his strength.

"The thing that went in my favour, was where there was climbing in two places, the climbs were a bit harder than I thought. There were dead turns into the climbs so you couldn't come in with much speed. Then you had to work from the bottom of the climb quite hard."

But it really couldn't have gone much better, although there is a slight regret at not getting the Elite title as well.

"I would have been young to have taken the Elite title but it has been done before. I think Ben Healy has done it. It would have been cool to have my  name along with him. I'm out of U-23 after next January. If I was Elite champion I would have the full  year in that jersey whereas I've only got the rest of this year in the U-23 jersey."


Jamie Meehan (centre) pictured on the podium for the U-23 presentation

There was another Donegal man involved in the race in young Odhrán Doogan from Gortahork and he finished a very creditable eighth overall.

"Odhrán was with us. Me, Odhrán, Dean Harvey and Adam Rafferty were the first group to break away. The four of us had a gap, we had 40 seconds at one stage. Which was quite cool, four U-23s up the road, two Donegal men."

There were a number of splits in the main group before a group of 10 came across to make up the gap to the leading four.

"We had a bigger group of 14 from maybe an hour into the race. We kinda all worked together for the middle two hours. And going into the last hour we started to play around and attacks started going.

"I can't remember the exact kilometre, we attacked to get away with a group of four, me Darren (Rafferty), Patrick Casey and Rory (Townsend).

"I actually thought we had another lap until everyone turned left into the final 10k circuit. I actually thought we were turning right for another 25k lap. I guess it turned out well that there was only 10k to go at that point.

"We worked together quite well until 3-4k to go. Then Rory got a gap. We forced Darren to chase a little but when I saw Darren wasn't able to  close the gap, there was a small rise in the road and I had to kick and give it a big hit. I pulled over to Rory and attacked and went over the top of him but he saw that coming and he jumped on me to ride but at that stage I wasn't able to go again and had to settle for second."

Meehan was happy that the performances on Sunday will be nice to take back to France.

"It is quite a good thing to have on my CV. Before the race if you had told me I would get a podium on its own on the Elite or a podium on the U-23 I  probably would have been happy. To take both the U-23 jersey and a podium on the Elite I can be quite happy with it."

He has a busy schedule over the next month but is happy to be taking good form into the upcoming races.

"I'm at home at the moment but I'm flying back to France tomorrow (Wednesday). I have a race this Saturday and Sunday. Then we have got a week before a big race in Italy, Aosta.

"So I'm hoping to be able to wear the jersey at Aosta. We have a French Cup and then the Tour Alsace, which is quite a big month ahead."

It was not the only success for Donegal at the National Championships as earlier Katie-George Dunlevy, riding in the Donegal Bay Cycling colours, took the Elite Tandem title.

"It kinda shows what can come out of Donegal. We kinda have the training ground here for it."

READ NEXT: Did you know Jim McGuinness took charge of Donegal for a 100th time?

Overall it has been a very good year for Jamie Meehan, who says he has not targeted any race but just taking each as they come.

"It's going quite well. I managed to pick up results, a good few top tens and then the second in the Rás. But I'm not really trying to focus on results this year. I did that last year and I don't think it helped me. I think I go better when I let things be. I'm trying to do that a bit more. I have been steadily picking up results. 

"I was lucky enough to pick up some results in Italy in March and April. Then I broke my hand and was off the bike for a while. Then in Rás I got second and in the Ardennes I got second in the last stage. So I have been consistent, which is quite good."

Jamie Meehan (left) on the podium for the Elite presentation. He is pictured with winner Rory Townend and third Patrick Casey