090 – Irish National Ladies Enduro Champion – Leah Maunsell
Photos: Sven Martin
Todays Guest
Leah Maunsell – Irish National Ladies Enduro Champion
On episode #90 we are chatting to the Irish National Ladies Enduro Champion Leah Maunsell about life, family, racing, sponsors, bikes and ladies in mountain biking. It was awesome to get Leah on the podcast and have a chat about how things have been going this season for her regarding racing both at home and on the EWS tour. Leah has had an awesome start to her racing season with wins at the Grass Roots Enduro in Cork, the Vitus First Tracks Enduro at Ravensdale and wins at the first two rounds of the Gravity Enduro. The girl is ripping for sure. Leah started her racing journey at an early age but with her father and brother both being very good riders and racers, she was soon building on her skill base and had no option but to get faster or get left behind.
Leah started racing XC and got to the front, fast winning 4 National Championships in her first 5 years. Once the enduro scene started to become popular Leah soon adopted to the new race format and quickly got stuck in. She has now won the Irish National Enduro Championship title 5 times and in 2017 was the Irish National Champion in both Enduro and Downhill. Leah had a 3rd overall finish on the EWS curcuit last season but she only attended a few of the events because of school commitments. This season she plans to attend all of the European stages and possibly make her way to the California stage in Northstar at the end of August.
Tune in and hear Leah’s story of racing, podiums and future plans. Enjoy the show!
Right click here and ‘Save as’ to download to your computer.
Find Out:
- How Leah got started mountain biking
- How Leah had no choice but to get fast
- What her first bike was like
- How Leah’s first race went and why she got hooked
- How having a brother that races in the EWS Elites helps her
- How Leah got sponsored by Kona from day one
- Other sponsors that help her race
- Why family support is so important to Leah
- What Leah plans to achieve this season
- Why she has started to ride some events without practise as a training exercise
- What Leah thinks of the EWS Series
- Why she is concentrating 100% on her racing season this year
- What Leah thinks about turning elite next season
- Why Leah thinks there is not enough media coverage for the Junior and U21 racers
- How to get in contact and keep up to date with Leah’s racing season
Leah is concentrating on her racing 100% this season and really wants to hold that U21 EWS Ladies Championship title before turning elite next season. Things didn’t go to plan at her first meeting in Madeira as she was feeling ill and a little under the weather. But Leah is very mature for her age and she realises that it is a long season and will take all the experience she can from her Madeira result. Leah has an amazing season ahead and no matter what happens and one thing is for sure, we have another top class Irish competitor to be proud of.
Leah is really aware of how much the people around her have helped her get to this point in her career, and Leah is looking at it as a career. Her medium to long term goal is to turn this into a career and become a pro racer. Leah’s main sponsor Kona have been with her from day one and their support over the years means a lot to Leah. Leah has a number of sponsors helping her along the way and she is very grateful to all their help and continued support. Leah is well aware that being a privateer you really need all the help you can get from sponsors. Without this help a lot of people simply would not be able to afford to race, with all the expenses that are involved.
On chatting with Leah about the media coverage the Junior and U21’s receive she would like to see more of this and believes we don’t see enough coverage for these young future pros. I tend to agree and think we really don’t hear enough about these young rippers and the future of the sport. There are of course issues with this but we chat about it and Leah is in a awesome position to comment on this issue.
So if you want to know more about our young Irish talent, what racing at this level is like or simply want to know more about Leah and her future plans, hit play and get to know the Irish National Enduro Champ a little better.
To Connect with Leah:
Instagram: leahmaunsell
Leah’s Sponsors:
Kona Bikes – konaworld.com
Spin11 – spin11.com
G-Form Protects – gform.eu
Crankbrothers – crankbrothers.com
University of Limerick – ul.ie/sportsscholarships/about
KWD Recycling – kwd.ie
Credit Union – mallowcu.ie
Resources in this Episode:
Leah Maunsell – Kona Women Ambassadors from Kona Bikes on Vimeo.
To Share Your Thoughts or Get In Contact:
To Help Out The Show:
- Rate and leave an honest review on iTunes/ Apple Podcasts
- Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
- Subscribe and listen to on iTunes/ Apple Podcasts
- Subscribe and listen to on Stitcher
- Subscribe and listen to on Spotify
- Subscribe and listen to on Podbean
Thanks so much to Leah for coming on the show and telling her story. Good luck this race season!
And thank you once again for Listening!
Join me next week for another MTB TRIBE Podcast show!
Did you enjoy this episode and want to hear more? Check out the episodes below:
