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Killarney rider Richard Maes excels at World Cyclocross Championships

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2 years ago

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Maes recently finished fourth at the World Cyclocross Championships.

Experienced All Human Velorevolution rider Richard Maes is still going strong. Adam Moynihan chats to the accomplished Killarney cyclist to find out more about his latest showing at the World Championships.

Richard, congratulations on your recent success. Can you tell me a bit about the competition you were taking part in?

Thanks Adam. Yeah, it was the World Championships for Cyclocross in Ipswich. I came fourth in the masters section. It was there last year as well and I came fifth, so I knew the course and I was able to train more specifically for it.

So, was the goal heading into this year’s competition to finish higher than fifth?

Yeah, I was hoping for that, but last year there were Covid implications as well. A couple of the big fellas from Belgium and Holland didn’t show up. They did show up this year so I wasn’t quite sure how it would go. But it went well on the day, thankfully.

Can you explain how the sport works?

It’s a cross between mountain biking and road; the bike looks like a road bike with mountain bike wheels. It’s done off-road and there’s a lot of running involved and lot of man-made obstacles like stairs that you have to run up and down. They bring in a couple of hundred tonnes of sand for the course and make you go through it. Skilful riders can ride through it, others can’t and they just have sand in their shoes for the rest of the day. Some courses are hilly, some are flat.

As for the event, it a one-hour race that consists of a three-kilometre track. If a lap takes 10 minutes, they say you have six laps to do. They try to get it as close to the hour as possible.

It sounds pretty physical?

Yeah, it’s the hardest event you can do in terms of cycling. It’s the most demanding. My heartrate would be about 185 average for the hour. It’s the same pain as a 5k running race if you’re trying do that as fast as you can for 20 minutes, except this lasts an hour. It’s the same intensity. There’s a lot of high intensity gym training and weight training.

Tell me about this recent event. Did everything go to plan?

Everything went smoothly enough. Conditions were cold but it was bone dry. Normally we’d have a load of muck to deal with! It ended up being the fastest race of the year.

There were six of us together for the whole race, really, and then it split into three and three with two laps to go. It stayed that way until the end. There was only 13 seconds between first and fifth. It was tight racing all day.

What’s next on the agenda?

The National Championships are on in Dundalk the second weekend of January and we’re finished then. It’d be nice to get a medal there. I was fourth last year so it would be good to go one better this time. After that we’ll be back into road training in March. I’ll be looking to do the Rás and all that craic again. No rest for the wicked!

How is the body holding up overall? Is training getting that bit harder with age?

Not yet! The recovery hasn’t slowed down that much thankfully but I’d say if I did stop for a while and tried to get back going, I’d feel it. I’m training 50 weeks of the year. I’ll try and not get fat for another while!

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Kerry’s All-Ireland heroes launch new football camp for girls

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2 weeks ago

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31 May 2025

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Legendary Kerry ladies’ player Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh will be inspiring the next generation of superstars at the new Laochra football camp, which takes place in Killarney in August.

Aimed at girls aged 12 to 16, the camp is being run by three leaders who were central to Kerry’s magnificent All-Ireland triumph in 2024: Darragh Long (joint manager), Declan Quill (joint manager) and Anna Maria O’Donoghue (selector).

Camp ambassador Louise will be on hand to offer guidance in a coaching capacity, as will some members of the current Kerry team.

“We want you to train with your heroes so you can be the next hero,” explains Darragh Long.

“We feel very strongly about ladies’ football. It has been brilliant to myself and Declan over the last five or six years, and it has been brilliant to Anna Maria and Louise over their full careers, so we just see it as an opportunity to give something back to a sport that gave an awful lot to us.

“We’re aiming at an age group of 12 to 16, girls who will hopefully be starting on their intercounty journey. We will be able to give them a skillset they will be able to use as their steps to success. To try and be the next Louise or the next Síofra O’Shea.

“We have three workshops planned. One with Eric McDonnell, who was our strength and conditioning coach when we won the All-Ireland. One with Michelle O’Connor, an All-Ireland winning performance coach. And one with Claire O’Sullivan, our nutritionist when we won the All-Ireland.

“It’s all about giving the girls the skills and the bits and pieces they’ll need if they want to make it to the top. We really think we can give them a good grounding. We’ll also be providing a huge amount of coaching throughout the week.”

Many teenage girls give up on sport around the ages of 15 or 16. Long and his fellow camp founders are hopeful that attending Laochra might encourage girls to stick with it that bit longer.

“We would see it as a huge success if 10, 15, or 20 of the girls who come to the camp continue to play football after the camp because they got a bit of a buzz or a bit of energy from us during the week.”

The Laochra camp will run from August 12-15 at Dr Crokes GAA grounds in Killarney. You can register here.

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St Paul’s sign 6ft American guard Burnham

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2 weeks ago

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30 May 2025

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Having really found their feet in the Women’s Super League in the second half of the season, culminating in a drive to the final, Utility Trust St Paul’s have signalled their intent to push on for the 2025/26 season by announcing the signing of American guard Maisie Burnham.

Burnham (24) comes to Killarney following an honour-laden time in the Liberty High School where she also excelled at volleyball. She went to the Eastern Washington University where she led the team in scoring in the 2020/21 season with over 14 points per game – the highest PPG ever for an EWU freshman.

She moved onto the University of Portland where she really found her feet with the team and as her time progressed with the Pilots her stats went north, peaking in the 2024/2025 season when she averaged 16.3 points per game.

Maisie, a guard and standing at 6ft, is a native of Spangle City in Washington and the club will welcome her to the Kingdom in plenty of time ahead of the new season.

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