After years of dedication and perseverance within the sport, Cailum Meara has made the difficult decision to hang up his boots at the end of the 2025 season. The Irish rider, who has battled through injuries, setbacks, and personal challenges, speaks openly about the realities behind his decision – from the financial and physical struggles to the mental toll that racing at this level can bring.
We caught up with Meara as he reflects on the defining moments of his career, the injury that changed his perspective, and how his focus has now shifted towards building a future away from the racetrack. Despite stepping away from competition, his passion for motocross remains as strong as ever, with a clear desire to give back to the sport and support the next generation of Irish riders.
GateDrop: Cailum, you’ve made the decision to stop racing after the 2025 season. Just how tough was this decision to make?
Meara: It’s been one of the toughest decisions in a very long time I’ve had to make. Obviously I’ve stopped racing before for completely different reasons. That was for being a stupid young man at 18 years old (laughs). But no, this time it’s a much more calculated decision to stop racing but probably one of the toughest decisions I’ve had to make in a very long time.
GateDrop: What are the main reasons for the decision to stop racing?
Meara: You know, there’s many reasons to stop racing. A big one, of course, is financially. But I mean, that’s the never-ending song and dance we listen to in the sport is there’s zero financial help. Not that I believe that I’m one of the riders that deserve all this financial help, because I’m definitely not. But again, the financial side of things just doesn’t make sense for me. I’ve had an absolutely horrific injury last May and I’ve kind of tried to be positive about it. I’ve played it down as if, yes, everything’s going great. But it’s probably been one of the toughest injuries I’ve ever had. Right now, I still have absolutely zero feeling from my left elbow down into my hand and it just doesn’t make sense for me.
The last injury took a massive toll on me mentally. I got hurt in the last chance qualifying race. I then continued to race the rest of the day. I mean, it wasn’t the smartest decision. But to be honest, looking back now, it was nice to prove to myself that I wanted to be there for all the right reasons, that I did still have that fight in me and I have the grit in me that I always knew that I had. Not that I wanted to show it to other people. But I mean, everyone’s seen what it meant to me. I climbed myself out of a very deep hole to even get back to racing at the British Championship level. I remember qualifying at Hawkstone and sitting in tears in the van. I was sitting on the line at Hawkstone for my first ever British Championship race. I was 24 years old.
I’d been around the paddock with Jason, a mechanic for him and it was kind of a pinch me moment. It sounds really stupid because it’s maybe not a big goal but coming from the problems that I had with myself, through no one’s fault other than my own, but the hole that I climbed myself out of to actually reach that stage was absolutely insane. I dedicated myself and I committed myself.
To be totally honest with you, I got hurt at Canada Heights and I didn’t even have money in my account to fly home, only for the help of a very kind man. He booked a flight for me and got me home. I went straight to hospital and to be told in hospital that I was possibly going to lose my arm after the first operation. I still didn’t know if I was going to keep my arm or not. It was a lot of reasons why I’ve stopped racing but they’re the main ones.
GateDrop: You got injured at Canada Heights, it looked a very nasty injury with a deep cut in your arm – was that tough to deal with and how much of that injury played it’s part in this decision?
Meara: Going back to the injury at Canada Heights, basically I got into the lead of the LCQ. The funny thing is I wouldn’t have been in that LCQ, only Jack, my younger brother, pinched me on the last lap of qualifying by like 0.2 of a second to put me in the LCQ. You can blame my retirement on him (laughs).
Basically what happened, I just jumped a little bit too far to the left and put a massive gash on my arm, went to the paramedics. I was recommended to go to hospital, but look, coming from where I’ve got myself from, that wasn’t even an option for me. So I duct taped up the elbow and went and finished the races and flew home. But that’s been a massive part to play in why I want to stop racing. You know, I got hurt, I was lying in hospital and this is very hard for even me to go back to, but I didn’t even have enough money in my bank account to buy myself dinner while I was in hospital.
Of course, the hospital food isn’t good. I didn’t have enough money in my account to even buy myself a bottle of water. And honestly, looking back, it’s like, what’s it all really for? You know, I’m very friendly with Calum Mitchell, who won the last race of the MX2 British Championship. I was speaking to him on the Monday morning after he won and he was back on a building site. So, you know, what’s it really all for? The truth be told, I’m not going to win an MX2 British motocross race. It’s just not going to happen and I’m not stupid enough to think that I could. So, if he’s winning a race and the next morning, he’s on a building site, what is it all really for?
Going back to sitting in hospital, no money in my bank account, obviously getting out of hospital, no money to live off but with the support of my amazing fiancé, Rachel, she was there through everything. She never left my side and truth be told, only for her, I wouldn’t even have food to eat getting out of hospital until I really got back to work. That’s just the God’s honest truth. You know, so looking back, that’s quite tough for me to talk about. I played it off very well as if I wasn’t struggling, but I’ve suffered severely with mental health before and I knew how to get through it. Don’t get me wrong, it was very hard, but look, I’ve gotten out the other side. I’m somewhat healthy where I can go about my life and racing now just isn’t top of my list.
GateDrop: You’ve also started up your own business, can you tell me about that?
Meara: It’s quite a massive step for me and I’m very proud of myself. I’ve started up my own business, my own solar company here in Northern Ireland. You know, it’s something I’ve had previous experience in, and I feel that it’s something that I know quite a bit about and it’s something I’m passionate about selling.
I’ve chatted with some people and I have a partner along with me who’s very intelligent in terms of running a business. All my goals are now and that’s where my focus lies now. I want to set a future up for myself financially, for a future family and honestly, to try and give back to my mum and dad who, truth be told, just spent every single penny to get me and my brothers racing. My goal now is to try and give back to them to try and make their life a bit easier.
It sounds a bit crazy now as we’re so early in the process, but I’m a very big believer in manifesting and look, I know I can make it happen. It’s now time for me to pop all my eggs into that basket and work hard to hopefully give them an easier life. That’s my main goal throughout running this business, is not to have all my flashy cars or whatever else. I’m definitely not speaking long term, but look, I don’t need much to live. I’ve lived with absolutely nothing and I’m well used to living with nothing. My goal now is to give back to the ones that were there for me whenever no one else was.
GateDrop: Do you intend on still riding for fun?
Meara: Of course, I still intend to ride for fun. There’s nothing even comes close in the world to riding a bike, to me anyways. It’s something I appreciate every time I put a helmet on and throw my leg over a bike now. I’ll still ride for fun and maybe jump in and out of doing a couple of races here and there. But that’s whenever my schedule will allow me.
Honestly, I’ve quit racing before and that was for much different reasons, whereas this time I’m much more content in my decision. I have bigger goals and a future to look for now.
To be totally honest, I don’t see a future in racing motocross bikes within the UK and there’s just not one there. You know, you maybe have two or three people that are making a living out of it. To be straight up, I’m a long, long way off being able to make a future out of racing motocross bikes. That’s just the harsh reality of it. But look, I’ll still ride for fun and I still enjoy riding. I’ll definitely have a bike… What that is yet, I don’t know, but I’ll definitely have a bike of some sort.
GateDrop: I know you love the sport, so I assume we’ll still be seeing you around the paddock?
Meara: As you said, I absolutely love this sport. I would go as far as saying no one loves motocross as much as me (laughs). I’ll still be around the paddock, you know, fingers crossed I can get my side of things up and running. I would love to be a part of the sport still. Where that is, I don’t know.
I’ll still be around the paddock, you know, Jason and Jack still riding, my youngest brother Ollie is still riding. I’ll have more fun going and helping them out wherever I can. And yeah, fingers crossed. I love the sport and that’s where my happiness is within the sport. So, I’ll be around the paddock, but hopefully in a much more chilled environment.
GateDrop: Jack and Jason will still be racing – how much will you be there to support and help him?
Meara: I assume they’ll still be doing the British, Scottish and whatever else they can. My goal is to obviously to help and support in whatever way, but Jason’s much more experienced than me and he doesn’t really need much help or guidance. But of course, he knows himself that whatever needs done, if it makes their lives easier, I’m more than happy to help them. Hopefully I can help financially in some way but whether or not that time comes, who knows? That’s where my happiness relies now is helping them race and getting them to the races.
I’m looking forward to the next chapter. It’s been a really hard decision this time because I’ve fought so hard to get back to where I am, but I’m at peace now with my decision. My focus now lies on building a future for myself, my future family and whatever else. It’s a difficult decision, but as you say, Jason’s still be racing. Jack will still be racing. My plan is to hopefully make all the races that they’re at. Of course, that’ll not be possible all the time, but I’ll definitely be there as much as I can.
GateDrop: You’ve been involved in the MXoN in the past, if an opportunity like that or a role where you could help the youth riders, would you be interested in that in the future?
Meara: Yeah, I’ve been involved. I was a mechanic and then I was part of the management. As a young kid, your dream was always to race motocross nations. And I don’t know if it’s because I’ve gotten older or I’ve seen the dark sides of the sport, the bitterness and what I’ve seen the behind-the-scenes part of it, that doesn’t motivate me anymore as much as I wish it did.
I’ve tried telling myself that it does motivate me, but the truth be told, it just doesn’t motivate me anymore to be involved in the MXoN. If an opportunity or a role that came to me, I would need to think about it. I would need a good group of people around and to be honest, whenever you see what really goes on behind the scenes in terms of getting a team packed and then the bitchiness on social media. There’s some clowns in the sport in this country where they just to start a sh*t and cause absolute chaos rather than supporting whatever is in front of them. Would I be interested in that role? I would never say never but right now is at the top of my list? Absolutely not.
It’s a complete thankless job that realistically you get nothing but absolute shi*t for doing, you know. It takes up months of your life and you put so much into it, I know myself and especially working with Mark in the past, he’s out of pocket a lot of money himself to even get a team there and then to see the sh*t that some of the people give him who aren’t even on the team is absolutely mind blowing for me, but that shows where them people are in their head space and if that’s what they need to do to make themselves feel known or happy or content, then let them at it. But again, if I want to do that role, it is something that I would look at in the future, but right now it’s not top of my list.
I would love to be involved in helping the youth. Before I’ve made this decision, I’ve obviously spoke with my close sponsors and it’s something we’ve already spoken about and I will make happen for next year… there’s some riders that we will support, you know, and it’s going to be sponsors that were there for me and sponsors that have already given me a deal for next year that they’ve been kind enough to hand over, not to me, but kind of give me the trust to hand out to certain riders. They’ll be riders from this country and this country only.
I’m a massive believer in helping the youth and I’m not here just to hold my hand out and take the money off them and send them on their way and tell them they’re doing great before bringing them back the next week to take more money. You know, there’s a lot more ways to help the riders nowadays than stand with your hand out and pocketing their cash.
There’s some exciting things we have in the pipeline that will hopefully be announced before Christmas. There’s just some final things that we need to put in place but definitely I’d like to be involved a bit more and we will be involved in terms of giving out some gear deals, some financial help, there’s a lot of things. So, keep your eyes peeled for that. We will definitely be helping some riders next year in the youth, solely Irish riders. To be honest, that’s where my heart lies and that’s where I’m going to try and help.
I would like to say to any 15, 16, 17, even 18 year old kid that has any sort of potential, any sort of grit, any sort of hard work, or they have their parents backing them… I would say please stick at it, do not get distracted by the outside world, don’t get distracted by friends that you think are having more fun than you at the weekends, don’t get distracted by girls or whatever else. Look, there’s so many distractions, but honestly if I could say anything and if I have one regret that probably lives with me is going down the road I went down and that was thinking that there was a much more enjoyable and better life outside of racing motocross. I see so many young teenagers, teenage boys going down that same path, partying, drinking, whatever else… Please coming from someone that’s been through it that has made the wrong decision, I would like to say please stay on path, stay on track, stay on route and keep chasing them goals because trust me the drinking, the partying, the girls, there is not a better life outside of getting to the races every single weekend. I hope that this can even help just one person, please just stay at it, stick with it and understand that you are not missing out on anything by going racing every weekend. It’s so easy to go off path and think that partying, girls and whatever your other friends are doing is much more fun but trust me it’s not. Look how it’s affected me, I stopped riding whenever I was 17/18 and it’s took me a full two years, full-blown commitment to even get back to a level of where I could race the British Championship and that’s totally on me. I accept it and it’s made me into the person I am today but please take it from me, someone that has done it, I really encourage any young person around that age to please stick with it, stick with the program and if you have any sort of potential, go with it because there’s no success in partying, chasing girls or whatever else, so please stick with it.
Just to close one more massive thanks, a massive thanks to Mark Mooney. He has become just more than a sponsor to me, he’s a close friend, a mentor. He’s taught me a lot about how to go forward with new people and people you might not like. A massive thanks to Mark, he is too kind to even be involved in this sport because you don’t find people like that.
A special thanks to Clive Huntley, MotoCycle, Gavin Cragie, Willy Hogg at Service Master, Aoife and Troy at True Customer, Davy Crust, Ian Bailey at Moto33 Suspension, Stuart Edmonds and Shaun Cassidy. The list goes on and thank you so much to all of you. Without Mr Crust I probably wouldn’t have even got to the British or Scottish races – the amount of times he pulled me out hole to work on the bike. He was always there and always looked after to me.
For now my racing career is well and truly done. I hope to be apart of racing and you’ll still see me but in a different way. Thanks to everybody that has helped me throughout my career – especially the past few years which have been a struggle. It is what it is and I’ve different goals now but the future is looking bright. We are ready to get going with a new stage in my life and thanks again everybody, much love to all who have helped.
