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Last Updated: Apr 17th, 2008 - 09:04:31 |
Irish MTB Riders Excel In British Events
By Andy Potts, CI Offroad Commission
Apr 17, 2008,
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Last weekend Irish MTB riders travelled to Britain, the XC folk riding at the opening round of the British XC NPS at Thetford and the DH aces taking part in the first round of the SDA Series at Dunkeld in Scotland. The Irish contingent returned home with an impressive list of results.
On Saturday the opening round of the British XC NPS took place at Thetford Forest in Norfolk, the fastest MTB course in the country. In the Elite Mens race, Belfast’s Conor McConvey (McConvey Cycles) finished a brilliant third behind British duo Ian Bibby and Ian Wilkinson. Irish Champion Robin Seymour was forced to retire on lap 4 of the 6 after sustaining a puncture, Seymour being part of the lead group at the time. Ryan Sherlock (MAD) was forced to retire after being knocked off by another rider on a fast fire road section. A youthful Joe McCall (K-Capital/Rocky Mountain) was the only other Irish finisher, the legend crossing the line in 21st in what was his first Elite outing in Britain for a few years.
The big news in the Elite Womens race was the performance of Irelands Mel Spath (MAD). In what has to be the best performance by an Irish lady for a number of years, Mel was the talk of the circuit as she finished a close second to British Champion Jenny Copnall. The official results list Mel as MAD Ireland, are the Brits trying to tell us something? Mel’s result is even more impressive considering that this time two years ago she was only setting out in the sport of MTB. Riding for the Cycling Ulster MTB Academy, Banbridge CC’s Matt Adair finished 14th in the Youth (U-16) race, a good result for the first year U-16 rider who currently leads the way in the K-Capital U-16 standings. Irelands top two Juniors, Liam McGreevy and Paul O’Reilly were missing from the Junior race, why, answers on a postcard to Cycling Ireland HP! The only Irish rider in action in the Junior event was XMTBs Neil McGimpsey, Neil finishing in 17th.
On Sunday the Irish riders took part in the opening round of the Whyte Enduro Series. In the Mens 100km event, Ryan Sherlock showed no ill effects from his crash the previous day as he finished third. In the Womens 100km race, Mel Spath was again in superb form, Mel finishing second, just 47 seconds behind the winner after over 4 hours of racing! Team Worc rider Evan Ryan was 5th in the 75 km event while Joe McCall took it easy and chose the 50 km class were he finished 4th.
Dunkeld, north of Perth, was the venue for the opening round of the Scottish DH Associations 2008 League. This is one of the toughest DH courses in Britain and amongst the huge entry was an array of Irish talent, albeit from North of the border.
Irish Junior Champion, Ewan Doherty (Eze Fitness), won the Junior event, indeed his winning time would have placed him third in the Elite class. Unfortunately for Ewan he returned home to the news that his mum had sustained a broken leg and collar bone in a motorcycle accident, all involved in Irish MTB wishes Helen a speedy recovery.
In the Experts event, Jamie McCullough(Chain Reaction Cycles) just missed out on the podium by finishing fourth while Steve Beattie (MTB Rider) finished in sixth. The worlds best MTB mechanic, Dale McMullan (Chain Reaction Cycles), took third in the Masters. Michael Cowan (Chain Reaction Cycles) was ninth and Ian McIntyre (Chain Reaction Cycles) 12th. The next round of the Scottish series is at Fort William in May, don’t bother trying to enter, the entry is already full! Next round of the Irish DH NPS takes place on 26/27 April in County Wicklow, promoted by Flow Racing.
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