Roisin Thomas

Written By Ahmed Aljubouri

A short humble story about our Roisin

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 - January 2016

  • 2nd Place at Dubai Women's Tour - January 2016

  • Yas Island Race Winner - February 2016

  • RAK UAE Cycling Federation Race Winner - March 2016

  • Ajman Race Winner - April 2016

  • Stages ITT 50km Race Winner - October 2016

  • 2nd Place at Jebel Hafeet (70km) - December 2016

  • Abu Dhabi Tour Challenge Stage Winner - December 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) - December 2016

  • Spinney 92 Winner and UCI Gran Fondo World Series Qualifier - December 2016

  • Ajman Race Winner - April 2017

  • Abu Dhabi Sports Council Stage Race Winner - May 2017

  • 2nd Place at NAS Ramadan Stage Race - June 2017

  • 2nd Place at Tour of Chaing Mai Stage 1 - October 2017

  • Tour of Chaing Mai Stage 2 & 3 Winner - October 2017

  • Tour of Chaing Mai Winner of General Classification - October 2017 (Yellow Jersey)

  • Abu Dhabi to Al Ain Stage Race (186km) Winner - December 2017

  • Al Ain Stage Race Winner - May 2018

  • Al Hudairyat ITT Stage Race (16km) Winner - October 2018

  • UAE Cycling Championships Stage 1 Winner - October 2018

  • 2nd Place at UAE Cycling Championships ITT Stage 2 - October 2018

  • Abu Dhabi to Liwa Stage Race Winner - November 2018

  • UAE Cycling Championships Stage 3 (Jebel Jais) Winner - November 2018

  • UAE Cycling Championships Winner - December 2018 (Blue Jersey)

  • Arabian Epic Series XCM Stage Race Winner - December 2018

  • 2nd Place at Liwa Race - January 2019

  • UAE Tour Challenge ITT Stage 1 Race Winner - January 2019

  • Ironman Dubai 70.3 Relay Team Winner - February 2019 (fastest Women on TT Bike AG)

  • UAE Tour Challenge Stage 2 Winner - February 2019

  • UAE Tour Challenge Winner - February 2019 (Green Jersey)

  • ITU Abu Dhabi Olympic Distance Relay Team Winner - March 2019

  • Belmullet GP Connacht Series RR Stage Winner - July 2019

  • 2 x Whoosh Indoor Stage Races Winner - 2020

  • 1 x Whoosh Indoor Stage Race Winner - January 2022

  • 1 x Irish Nationals Bronze 40km ITT Bronze Winner - June 2024

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.

https://podcasts.apple.com/ae/podcast/grays-in-the-house/id1562856781?i=1000522629444

Ahmed Aljubouri
Previous

The Race of the Truth