Waterford Racing Club

Double Delight for Waterford Racing Club’s James Griffin!!!!

​Waterford Racing Club rider James Griffin delivered a standout performance across a high-octane weekend of provincial racing, securing a pair of podium finishes at the Munster Cycling Championships.

​The weekend commenced on Saturday in County Tipperary, where riders faced off against the clock in the Munster Time Trial Championships. Showcasing impressive pacing and power, James pushed through the course to claim a fantastic Gold medal in the Senior category for Waterford Racing Club.

​Refusing to rest on his laurels,James lined up again on Sunday for the Munster Road Race Championships in Whitechurch, County Cork. Navigating a competitive field and demanding road conditions, he once again featured at the sharp end of the action, battling his way to fantastic bronze medal finish.

​Taking home two provincial medals in twenty-four hours across two distinct disciplines—the solo effort of the time trial and the tactical battle of the road race—marks a remarkable double achievement for both Griffin and Waterford Racing Club.Well done James.....drive it on👏👏💪💪👊👊
Photo credit:Sean Rowe 📸

Irish Youth National Championships — a weekend to remember! 🚴

Huge congratulations to Ryan Quigley, Sophia Quigley and Emma Kelly on a brilliant end to the 2026 season in Moy, Co Tyrone, hosted by the Square Wheelers. As the photos show, the Argory was a spectacular backdrop for the finale.

Ryan, technically still an U10, raced up in the U11s for his first open road races and National Championships. He performed really respectably across all three events — especially the hilly criterium, where he was dropped four times and clawed his way back to the lead group every single time. The power is clearly there; now it's about the experience.

His sister Sophia stole the show for Waterford Racing Club in the Girls U12. A year ago, having finished at the back in the 2025 championships she set herself the stretchiest of stretch goals — to win a medal in 2026 — then put in the work, raced every chance she got and kept a brilliant attitude throughout. And she delivered: three bronzes across the TT 🥉, Road Race 🥉 and Criterium 🥉, hanging tough with the top two girls in the country at times and just - barely - holding off one of her closest friends and rivals and the rest of a high quality field. Next year she steps up as one of the youngest U14s, it will be a tough transition year, but she can't wait.

And we were thrilled to see Emma Kelly dig out a hard-fought bronze in the U13 Girls Criterium after a season disrupted by a crash and injury, having battled to 4th in both the TT and road race. A well-deserved reward.

A big thank you to everyone who trained with the kids this summer — especially the Tuesday night crew of Rolf, Noelle, Joe, Wally, Jimmy, Ritchie, Ben and the various guests who taught them to ride in a group. You helped make these medals happen. 🥉

Adult weekend roundup!!!On the Senior side of things. James griffin travelled to Belfast for the Bobby Crilly hosted by Phoenix cycling club, which turned out to be a grippy hilly day in the office.This was the last round of the National series which always attracts the top riders in the Country.

James gave a strong account of himself finishing in the top 20 and therefore accumalating his first points at the top level of domestic racing in Ireland.Well done James💪 🔵🔵🚲

🚴‍♀️🏆 A fantastic weekend for Waterford Racing Club at the Ulster International Youth 2-Day! 🏆🚴‍♂️

Huge congratulations to all our young riders who took on a seriously strong field in Derry, hosted by Foyle CC.

We got off to a flying start in the U12 with Sophia Quigley taking 🥉 in the Stage 1 time trial, before Emma Kelly immediately bettered that with 🥈in the U14 — and, even more impressively, taking the first White Young Riders Jersey against the highest calibre of opposition.

Unfortunately, that proved to be the high point of Emma’s weekend. A Di2 issue brought her race to an early end on Stage 3, and despite efforts from the team car the whole thing remains as dead as disco as of Sunday night. A frustrating - and probably expensive - way for her weekend to finish after such a brilliant start.

Sophia, meanwhile, just kept getting stronger. 💪

🥈 Stage 2 – silver in the bunch sprint
🥈 Stage 3 – silver again on a tough, hilly stage

But more than the results, it’s the performance and progression that really catches the eye.

This time last year, Sophia was finishing towards the back of this race, almost 10 minutes down after three stages. One year on, she was attacking in the closing kilometres in an attempt to take the overall, eventually finishing only around 25 seconds off the lead after three stages.

That is a huge progression in 12 months and a real reflection of the work she has been putting in. 👏🚴‍♀️

And we’re hoping her brother Ryan, who has just turned 10, can make a similar progression. It was a tough weekend for him against some of the best young riders in the country, with some of his competitors up to two years older. But he improved as the weekend went on, managing to hold onto the bunch until the final climb of Stage 3. Those are the experiences that will stand to him in the long run. 💪

And finally, a huge thank you to Foyle CC for once again putting on a fantastic event. The Ulster International Youth 2-Day is a brilliant race and a fantastic opportunity for young riders to test themselves against the very best. 👏

🥇🥇 Double Gold & a Silver at the Munster Youth Road Race Championships! 🥈

Back to our favourite village — Knocknagree, Co. Cork — home of Sliabh Luachra CC and last year's National Championships venue. When a place produces this much talent, the racing is always top-drawer, so even though it's a more than 5 hour round trip for Waterford Racing Club - it is always worth it.

And what a day it turned out to be. 🚴

🥇 Sophia Quigley — GOLD in the U12 girls.
🥇 Ryan Quigley — GOLD on his debut at U11. Completely unexpected, but well earned on the night.
🥈 Emma Kelly — SILVER in the U14 girls, her return to racing progressing nicely against as strong a mixed field of boys and girls as you'll find anywhere, stacked with riders who will compete for the top step of the podium in next weeks National Championships.

Massive well done to all three! 👏

Huge thanks to Sliabh Luachra and the Munster Academy & Development Team for a cracking event — and for giving us yet another excuse to head back to Knocknagree. 🙌

Irish Track Cycling Youth National Championships

We were proud to have Emma Kelly and Sophia Quigley representing Waterford this weekend in Kanturk, Co. Cork.

For Emma, this was her first time touching a track bike since a crash on the track in April that landed her in Crumlin Children's Hospital. It was a last minute decision to go and took a lot of courage, but it was worth it because she finished 4th in every U14 event in a seriously high-quality field — just outside the medals, but more importantly agonisingly close, within fractions of a second of the leaders every single time. That's real class, and if she can develop some track specific skills to go with her power, she’s got a great platform to build on in 2027. 💪

Sophia arrived looking very tired from her adventures in the Netherlands last week and had a very sluggish start to the day, but she dug deep and improved throughout the afternoon session to take Bronze in the Scratch race. Track isn't her focus or strength, but she considers every day on the bike, any kind of bike to be a great day, so this was an unexpected bonus — and she's absolutely thrilled.

Huge congratulations to Kanturk CC on a superbly run event with an amazing atmosphere. Some might say that we got lucky with the weather, but the rest of us knew that Dan Curtin would sort out the☀️ for the day.

🚴 Waterford Racing Club at the European Youth Tour — the final word 🇳🇱

Five stages done, and both Sophia and Ryan Quigley can hold their heads high after acquitting themselves brilliantly against an enormously talented field from all over the world.

Sophia rode strongly from the off, only to be unlucky to end up behind the split when the field broke at about the halfway mark of an incident-packed Stage 1 criterium that ended the challenge of many. The step up in distance alone was significant: U12s in Ireland are capped at 10km, yet most stages here were 50–60% longer than that. She answered back on Stage 2, riding with the leaders on the course around Lieveren, before a huge crash took out half the peloton with 500m to go on the finishing straight. Sophia got caught up in it but stayed upright, coming home 30 seconds down — frustrated, but intact and grateful she didn’t come off far worse as some of her friends did.

Her standout ride came on Stage 3: 16km with three ascents of the fearsome Vamberg and its 16% gradient, in 32°C heat. She survived that climb twice, only getting distanced slightly on the second descent, and led a group into the final ascent just 5 seconds off the front before cracking and losing 45 seconds. On a day we expected her to lose minutes to the best in Europe — and the world — we were thrilled. A solid time trial followed, beating 16 or so riders, and though the cobbles of Assen took their toll on the final stage, Sophia finished 35th of 52 on GC in a mixed field. Far more competitive than expected on her first attempt — and she's learned a huge amount that will make her stronger next year.

Ryan went into Stage 1 understandably nervous, having never ridden in a bunch anywhere near this size. He found his feet quickly, and by Stage 2 was going really well — until he was caught in a pile-up through no fault of his own. He came out one of the worst off, with cuts, bruises and a wrecked bike, and then, showing the kind of grit you can't teach, rode the final 10km with a broken brake lever and the calipers locked on and screaming the whole way. 👏

His perseverance didn't go unnoticed. The tour's own website gave him a lovely shout-out in their write-up, noting how good it was to see him battle on after so much bad luck — "that's what makes a great bike rider." Well worth a read: https://www.ejcta.nl/en/behind-the-front-of-the-race/

He bounced back with a cracking time trial, beating several riders we'd never have expected him to get the better of. Bunch racing will take a little while to click again after a crash like that — but having just turned 10 years old less than a month ago, in his first-ever proper road tour, this has been a baptism of fire he can be seriously proud of.

A massive thank you to the Giant store in Assen, who — despite not having the right replacement parts — MacGyvered a fix that got Ryan back racing for the remaining stages. They could not have been more helpful or understanding. 🙌

And a final word on the event itself. From the professional setup and fully closed roads to the wonderfully varied courses, the buzzing campsite village with a huge Irish contingent and all the friends from across the world made wandering around it — the whole thing was simply incredible. Huge credit to everyone who put it together. 🇳🇱

Huge well done to Sophia and Ryan. 💪

🚴 Best of luck to Sophia and Ryan Quigley, flying the flag for Waterford this week at the European Youth Tour in Assen, Netherlands! 🇳🇱

This is about as tough as it gets — 5 stages over 5 days, going wheel to wheel with around 500 of the best youth riders on the planet.

It’s an especially big moment for Ryan, who only turned 10 a couple of weeks ago. This is his first step up to proper road racing — a world away from the short, closed-circuit fun racing that U10s are limited to in Ireland — and there’s no greater baptism of fire than this.

The bunches will be bigger, the pace faster, and the distances longer than anything either of them has faced before. A serious step up, and a brilliant experience for both.

Condolences to Dungarvan CC and to Jasons family and friends, especially his brother Damien. Both brothers are stalwarts of their club and longstanding friends to ours. Jason was indisputably one of the nicest men in cycling and made a huge contribution to cycling in Waterford across several decades and many disciplines including road, tri, MTB, CX and even vintage bikes. He organised and volunteered at many events that we all benefitted from. In recent years our youths had become very fond of him on the CX circuit and remember him as a very kind man who always happy and always had a bit of advice for them. We will all miss him terribly.

Another productive weekend for the team, this time at the Mullingar GP in Co. Westmeath!

🥈 Robin Kelly sprinting to 2nd place in the tightest of finishes

💪 James Griffin continues to impress following his upgrade to C2, securing a strong 6th place and a few more points on the licence.

A fantastic effort from both riders. Well done, gentlemen—onwards to the next one! 👏🚴

Photo Credit📸: Fergal Murray