“My name is Leah Maunsell, I’m 15 years old and I live in Co. Cork, Ireland.
Name: Leah Maunsell
Age: 15
Weapons of choice: Kona Process 134 DL (650b) and Kona Big Kahuna (29er)
Years riding: Riding bikes since forever really! But competitively for about 4 years.
How did I get here: My Dad and Brother were riding bikes first. Then I got my first mountain bike for Christmas and I began to be brought along on all of the adventures! Then, once I began racing XC and winning it, it was hard not to get hooked. And what can I say, I haven’t given up yet!
Racing history: I won my first race when I was 11 and I was instantly hooked. I continued racing provincially and nationally to become Irish National XC Champion three times, win the Irish XC Series four times and multiple Munster XC Series Champion. Last year, 2013, I dipped into a bit of Enduro racing and won my first race, a round of the Gravity Enduro Ireland Series in the Pro Women category. I continued the series but unfortunately didn’t compete in enough rounds to get an overall position. My biggest race to date was the European Youth Championships last year in Graz, Austria as an U15. It was 5 days of tough XC racing on Alpine territory. A combination of XCO, XC XL racing and skills competitions, I finished 21st in Europe.
In 2013, I was brought on board the Irish Youth Development Squad and with the help of my own personal sponsor Weldon Bicycles Suspensions was able to compete both here in Ireland and abroad in Austria.
This year has been a big year for me so far after securing sponsorship from Kona Bikes, meeting the owners themselves and riding with one of their top riders at just 15 years old! It has been a dream come true and I can’t thank Garry Davoren of MBW Bike Shop, Galway enough for helping me get here.
I also keep an updated blog where you can keep up to date with me and my many adventures:
http://leahmaunsell.wordpress.com/
What now: For the remainder of the season I will compete in both XC, Enduro and dip into a bit of DH all in Ireland. I will also compete in the UK in XC at the last round of the British XC Series in August.
I am too young to race Enduro internationally yet so I have a couple of years to train and build myself up to it. But I have no doubt I will be on the International Enduro scene as soon as I am eligible with the rest of the Irish shredders out there at the moment.
It has been an amazing first few years of my career riding bikes and I hope it is only the beginning of something big to come! I would like to thank everyone who has helped me along the way but especially my parents who have been behind me from the beginning and who still bring me to all races! Also thanks to all my sponsors Kona Bikes, Dare2b – Welcome to Our Mountain clothing, MBW Bike Shop, Moove Components, GrRANA Energy Europe, you all make everything that little bit easier!
