A short but humble story about our Roisin Thomas
Born in Dublin from a humble family originally from Achill, Mayo in Ireland, Roisin began her life in sport from a very young age following her father's footsteps who was an Irish national runner who's achievements and results spoke louder than words to that extend his best half marathon race was in 68mins and 19 secs and best marathon race in just under 2 hours 16 mins.
Roisin grew up watching her dad train every day and soon realised the hard work one needs to put towards training and leading a healthy and fit lifestyle whilst appreciating family and work balance. So not surprisingly Roisin started running and swimming from a young age then later took up cycling in Ireland.
Moved to the U.A.E in 2014 for work opportunities, Roisin bought her first bicycle in 2015 and took off from there. Her first race was at the TriYas sprint where she clinched second place in her age group without much preparation or structured training in cycling let alone in triathlon. Having tasted her potentials in winning she decided to give the Mamzar triathlon race a try later that year and managed to win it in her age group clinching first position and her second podium.
Roisin soon realised that she has the potential to achieve great results and now began to enjoy living and practicing the sport she loves the most, cycling, since it enabled her to simply discover the U.A.E on her bike. She naturally raised her profile in the U.A.E cycling community through her presence in participation at local races and encouraging women taking up cycling as a sport.
Since the summer of 2015 Roisin took up cycling more seriously by following a structured training and focused on pushing herself to get better and stronger. Her drive paid off sooner than most cyclists at that time and joined multiple teams as well as later founding the first UCI registered Women's cycling team in the GCC from Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. racing at UCI 2.1 and 2.2 stage races around Europe and Asia. The rest is history...
Some of Roisin's key palmares as an Elite cyclist are;
Liwa Race Winner - Jan 2016
2nd Place at Dubai Women's Tour - Jan 2016
Yas Island Race Winner - Feb 2016
RAK UAE Cycling Federation Race Winner - Mar 2016
Ajman Race Winner - Apr 2016
Stages ITT 50km Race Winner - Oct 2016
2nd Place at Jebel Hafeet (70km) - Dec 2016
Abu Dhabi Tour Challenge Stage Winner - Dec 2016
Abu Dhabi Tour Challenge ITT Race at Yas Circuit Winner (U.A.E Record Holder on TT Bike for fastest Woman around Yas Circuit) - Dec 2016
Spinney 92 Winner and UCI Gran Fondo World Series Qualifier - Dec 2016
Ajman Race Winner - Apr 2017
Abu Dhabi Sports Council Stage Race Winner - May 2017
2nd Place at NAS Ramadan Stage Race - Jun 2017
2nd Place at Tour of Chaing Mai Stage 1 - Oct 2017
Tour of Chaing Mai Stage 2 & 3 Winner - Oct 2017
Tour of Chaing Mai Winner of General Classification - Oct 2017 (Yellow Jersey)
Abu Dhabi to Al Ain Stage Race (186km) Winner - Dec 2017
Al Ain Stage Race Winner - May 2018
Al Hudairyat ITT Stage Race (16km) Winner - Oct 2018
UAE Cycling Championships Stage 1 Winner - Oct 2018
2nd Place at UAE Cycling Championships ITT Stage 2 - Oct 2018
Abu Dhabi to Liwa Stage Race Winner - Nov 2018
UAE Cycling Championships Stage 3 (Jebel Jais) Winner - Nov 2018
UAE Cycling Championships Winner - Dec 2018 (Blue Jersey)
Arabian Epic Series XCM Stage Race Winner - Dec 2018
2nd Place at Liwa Race - Jan 2019
UAE Tour Challenge ITT Stage 1 Race Winner - Jan 2019
Ironman Dubai 70.3 Relay Team Winner - Feb 2019 (fastest Women on TT Bike AG)
UAE Tour Challenge Stage 2 Winner - Feb 2019
UAE Tour Challenge Winner - Feb 2019 (Green Jersey)
ITU Abu Dhabi Olympic Distance Relay Team Winner - Mar 2019
Belmullet GP Connacht Series RR Stage Winner - Jul 2019
2 x Whoosh Indoor Stage Races Winner - 2020
1 x Whoosh Indoor Stage Race Winner - Jan 2022
In addition to the above, Roisin won multiple local stage races as well as participated in 2 Irish national championships stages coming 9th in 2016 and 6th in 2017 respectively. She was also part of the Astana Women Pro Cycling Team in 2017.
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