Moire O’Sullivan is a phenomenal athlete, I have met her at many events on the adventure racing calendar over the past couple of years, usually exchanging a few pleasantries at the start line before she flew off and left us mere mortals in her dust and she always has time for a friendly word of advice or encouragement! The first time I met Moire was at the start line for the very first Quest Glendalough in 2016, I was doing probably my second or third race ever and brazenly stuck my bike in the front group beside Moire and Dessie Duffy….As soon as the race started I got a sharp reminder of why those two were the top athletes in the sport and I watched in awe as they sped away up the hill from me! The last time I met Moire out on the course was at Sea 2 Summit last year, I made my way on the bike up the Maam climb and when I finally had to dismount 50 yards from the top of the hill Moire rolled by me effortlessly, we wished each other good luck, then she disappeared over the top of the hill on her way to yet another outstanding victory!

The book is a really great read, at times I was smiling, at times I was reliving the events through Moire’s eyes, at other times I was almost reading through closed fingers and afraid to read what was coming next! At all times though, it was a very honest and very insightful look at how Moire has ventured in to the world of multi-sport or adventure racing and how she has dealt with and adapted to the challenges and opportunities thrown at her along the way. There are things and encounters that all of us will understand, getting on the road bike for the first time, learning how to get on the indoor rollers without falling off and hurting yourself, the trials and tribulations of parenthood and how it impacts our daily life and the things we have become accustomed to doing…..and then there are the things that half of us will never understand or experience!! Moire manages to find a super balance in the book, detailing the unique challenges that motherhood brings, both before and after Baby arrives and its impact on general life, but really makes it interesting to see how a top athlete deals with the changes to their world, the unfamiliar and at the start perhaps frightening changes that are occurring and compromising the overwhelming drive to succeed that pushes a athlete at the peak of their game. She brilliantly is able to bring us in to her world and we are almost on the journey with her as she learns how to adapt and become an even better athlete and better version of herself than before. It’s a fascinating read and I’m sure there are many out there who may have similar experiences, she deals with the stuff that people may want to know but don’t know who to ask or where to go like getting across to us how Bump didn’t stop her doing the things that she loved doing but rather or enabled a whole new chapter and training mindset. Highly recommend this book, whether you are involved in sport or not, it’s a wonderful, honest, raw and eye opening read, well done Moire!

I wish Moire (and Pete and the boys) all the best with the book and in future events, I’m sure our paths will cross again out on a course somewhere where no doubt she’ll be cruising past me.

About the book

Bump, Bike and Baby – Mummy’s Gone Adventure Racing. Sandstone Press. Format:Paperback. ISBN: 9781912240067. Publication Date: 15/03/2018. RRP: £8.99. Available from Amazon, Foyles, Easons, and Waterstones. Paperbacks can be purchased here: https://goo.gl/8XDUZe and e-books can be purchased here: https://goo.gl/Q3p1fm

In Bump, Bike & Baby, Moire O’Sullivan charts her journey from happy, carefree mountain runner to reluctant, stay-at- home mother of two. With her sights set on winning Ireland’s National Adventure Racing Series, she manages to maintain her post-natal sanity, and slowly learns to become a loving and occasionally functioning mum.

About the author

Moire O’Sullivan is an accomplished mountain runner and adventure racer. In 2009, she became

the first person to complete the Wicklow Round, a 100km circuit of Ireland’s Wicklow Mountains,

run within twenty-four hours. She is married to Pete and is the proud mother of their two young

sons, Aran and Cahal. While busy adapting to and learning about motherhood, Moire won

Ireland’s National Adventure Race Series three times in 2014, 2016 and 2017. Bump, Bike and

Baby is about this personal journey. Moire blogs at https://moireosullivan.com/