Runaway wins for Alanna Maher

For Alanna Maher, the biggest fear when she first lined up on a motorbike was not injuring herself. It was simply being no good.

“I wasn’t afraid of falling off or this or that,” the Swanlinbar rider says. “To be honest, the only thing I was afraid of was being bad.”

Four years after first taking to the track, that fear has been replaced with the confidence of being the first female to win the Mondello Masters Junior Supersport Championship. The 31-year-old is now determined to ensure women in motorcycling are seen and supported.

Alanna only began racing at 27, relatively late compared with competitors who can start as young as six.

"I suppose, I’ve made up for it in the short time."

She's right - this year alone Alanna celebrated 12 podiums and five wins. The Mondello Masters held in Kildare serves as premier proving ground for up-and-coming motorcyclists. The championship started in April and concluded in August after five rounds. It was neck and neck until the end, but a second place in the last round secured Alanna the overall title of Mondello Masters Junior Supersport Champion. Her opponents: all men.

Alanna is used to working in male-dominated environments, as a health and safety officer in the construction industry. Her family was always involved in racing. Her first memory is sitting on a PW50 as a toddler. Since then she has shadowed her brother Ryan, an accomplished racer who has competed in world and European endurance events: "Back then, it was my job to just clean the helmets and things like that. I became part of my brother's crew. So whenever he was racing, I was there. I was always seeing exactly what goes into it from a dedication point of view, financial, everything."

It was knowledge that would later prove most valuable.

After one of Ryan's races in 2020, she finally decided: "That's it. I'm starting now myself."

When she began competing on pit bikes - a small, lightweight, off-road motorcycle that is easy to ride - she often travelled alone.

"I got a tow hitch put on my car, and I borrowed my dad’s friend’s trailer, and I went to the races on my own," she recalls. "If something went wrong, I had to just try and take it apart and try and put it back together again."

Practice makes perfect was her motto.

Off the track, she focuses on gym work. "Whenever you're racing, it's massively physical, but it's not necessarily the fitness that people think. Racers talk a lot about bike fitness and endurance."

Alanna has largely funded her racing herself, with her day job paying for her passion. She has secured support from VTL Transport this season and has also been gifted base layers by Zero Fit, but there is no shortage of expenses.

There is the bike itself - or six of them in her case - maintenance, tyres, travel, track days and the equipment required to compete safely. Alanna is particularly conscious of spending money on protection: “For me, whenever I’m racing, the main thing is that I’ve made the bike as safe as it can be mechanically, and I’m wearing the best gear that I can. I'll go for the top grade ones. Same with my leathers and my boots and my gloves. I’ll make sure that I have the best protection I can."

Years polishing helmets and changing tyres as part of a crew essentially paid off. When BBC NI were looking to fill a pundit role for the North West 200 recently, her experience of the paddock won her the job. She was nervous at first.

"I didn’t tell any of my friends that I was doing it," she laughs. "So when they turned on the footage, they were shocked to see me standing there."

It also has sharpened her profile in the racing world.

Last July, Motorcycling Ireland asked her to be a Representative for Women in Sport. Increasing opportunities for women in motorcycling is a topic close to her heart: "There are so many women out there on bikes that people aren’t hearing about."

She has seen the scale of funding available to women’s sport - and the comparatively small share going towards women in motorcycling. Alanna is not begrudging other sports their funding. Instead, she wants people to recognise the women already participating in motorcycling.

Her next task is to organise a ladies’ day bringing together women from every motorcycle discipline - short circuit, motocross, trials, endurance, pit bikes and road riding.

"I really want to put on a ladies’ day now to bring to the forefront that we are here," she says, "and hopefully get more funding for the future."

She does not want her own performances viewed through the prism of being a woman competing against men.

"I don’t really think about it being an advantage or disadvantage if I’m male or female," she says. "The most important thing is proving that we can be just as good."

This drive was spurred by wanting to disprove a common preconception: "I suppose, like with any sport, there is this kind of opinion that, whether we like it or not, women’s sport will never measure up to men’s sport," she says.

"That was one thing that was important to me. I was, in my head, like, ‘I’m going to prove that I’m just as good."

Her achievements have proven that she can be even better.