ZealOptics Irish NPS Round 4 - Mallow, Co Cork - a great weekend

The fourth round of the ZealOptics Irish NPS Round 4 brought the Irish dhers to the most southern round of the Irish NPS so far. With high standards from previous races held in Mallow, the pressure was on to make this race as successful as the others.

The track followed the same general direction as last year, with some working being done on the track, making it the longest track on the Irish NPS calendar.

U14s

Robbie Reid took the top spot on th U14s podium with the only U14 to come close to breaking the 3 minute barrier. Marc Potts of Bikeology took second place for the second time this year with a respectable 3.09.89. Third place on the podium went to Gavin Carroll who clocked a first run time of 3.10.42.

U16s

Ewan Doherty took his fourth win of the season clocking a time of 2.47 ahead of Killarney’s Jason Murphy who took second with a time of 2.51.47. Third place went to Plush lad, Erwin Buick, making the long journey from the north worth his while.

Ladies

Only two lady riders turned out for the fourth round, and another new face to the ladies scene, Maeve Baxter from Rostrevor. Maeve managed to put Michele off her usual first place podium position by beating Michele in her second run with a time of 3.47.23, just ahead of Michele’s 3.48.02.

Vets

A confusion in the vets category meant all the over 40's raced in the one category, giving the old boys something to worry about. Following a presentation for just the one category, here's how the vets fared.

1 st Carl Young 3.06.06

2 nd Richie Byrne 3.27.22

3 rd Michael Kirk 3.34.81

4 th Anthony Cornfort 3.42.98

Supervets

1 st Tom Clogher 3.29.37

2nd Derek Cowan 3.52.70

Seniors

The top three seniors was closer than normal with the local lads competing for the top spot. First place went to Mark Barry with 2.49.41, a tenth of a second behind Mark was Sean Murphy on 2.49.50 with Alfred Grigorjevs completing the podium with a time of 2.51.92.

Masters

With the seniors podium being filled with 021 lads, the Masters podium was filled with Plush lads. Mark Dickson managed to better his time in his first run to take first position with a time of 2.56.63, with half a second in it, Stevie Bell registered a time of 2.57.19 to take second, followed by Mr Bling Ian McIntyre who clocked a first run time of 3.02.73.

Junior

Again, a bit of confusion on the presentation podium following a decision by Dan Wolfe at the last minute to compete. Dan took first position followed by Richard Smith, back from injury with a time of 2.40.70 with First Tracks/Revolution’s Seanan O’Riordan taking third position with a time of 2.44.85.

Elite

For the first time this year, Stephen Beattie took his first place with the fastest time of the day with a time of 2.36.26. Fast on his heels was Darren Quille, who was definitely one of the biggest surprises of the day coming down the hill to clock a time of 2.38.14. this was followed Wallace Erwin in the same second to take his first ever podium registering a time of 2.38.37

A big thanks to the 021 crew for organising the race. The next big race brings the Irish downhillers to Rostrevor for the national championships on 22nd and 23rd July 2006. See you all there