Winter League 2006

The most successful winter league ever!

March 06

Here's how the winter league finished up

U14

U14’s was an amazing category with a total of 21 riders turning out for the league. Kyle Rimmer, Stefan McConvey, and Jake Crean are to be congratulated for turning out to all four rounds. However, this had no advantage to Stefan. When he dropped his lowest result of 14th position he fell from third position to fifth and missed out on the podium. Congratulations to Kyle, with a lot of growing still to do, the ‘wee lad’ picked up first position in the league followed by regular Robert Duggan who managed a first, second and third position with Paul McGrady’s win in the final round allowing him to take 250 points to steal third position.

U16

U16’s turned out to be one of the forgone conclusions with Ewan Doherty taking first position in all four races. Congratulations Ewan! Second position went to Johnny McClinchy. With a few solid podium scores he managed to take second position. Finally in third position Colin Franklin managed to pip Jason Murphy to the post by only five points! Riders who turned out for all four rounds include the top three plus David Graham, Christy Brown, Erwin Buick, Richard Pollard as well as Joshua Chesney. Good on you all (and your transport!) BTW – Plush were not joking about the birth cert next season!

VETS

Vets as usual is one of the categories with the 'best craic;. I think it’s safe to say it’s hard to come across a nicer group of ‘gentlemen’… Until the racing heads (or helmet) go on. Richie Byrne mounted a friendly attack on Carl Young when he discovered that he could take top of the league, however, Carl managed to put this to rest and proved himself to be top of the class. Ever reliable ‘Daddy TC’ aka Tom Clogher managed to take second position. New riders to vets this year included Carl, Peter Scollick and ex Master rider Michael White. The NPS is going to be good!

LADIES

For the first year (correct me if I’m wrong) the DH scene has had four lady competitors. Normally, Michele stands at the top of the podium with two empty spots either side… However, not only did Michele get some competition, but healthy competition as probably also for the first time in history, Michele failed to win a race in the series. Abagail managed to take first position in the first three rounds, leaving her to be a sure winner and Aoife managed to knock Michele off the second position by taking a win in the final round. I know Michele would only welcome this competition! Congratulations also to newcomer Roisin Grant who had her debut in her home track Bigwood in the second round. Hopefully we’ll see more of Roisin next year.

SENIORS

Congratulations to all the seniors that turned out. Almost 90 riders! Unlike last year’s events where you could almost predict the winners each week, the competition was wide open with three winners in the four races. Ciaran Steger Hoey took two wins to put him in top position. Pete McDonagh took a first and second to put him in third position. Conor Mansell took the win in Bigwood and turned up at all four events which put in the a great position to take second on the podium. Due to the high turnout in seniors, Plush awarded prizes for top five in each category with Alister Beckett taking fourth position and Conor Maginn in fifth. A mention goes to EpicMTB member Sean Herilhy for his turnout every week as well as Gerry McInerney and TC Racing Thomas Clogher jnr (not to be confused with Daddy TC)!

MASTERS

The Masters category had an unusual situation where a competitor was disqualified for unsporting and malicious behaviour. However throughout the league Mark Dickson, Joe Ward, Stephen Davidson, Ian McIntyre (top 4) turned out for every event fighting each step of the way. In the end it was Mark to take the win, with Joe settling for second space and Stevie Davidson taking third position on the podium. Great to see some new competitors to the Masters scene, and also great to see Victor Lucas turn up and hang up the camera for a day. It would be great to see him out again. See you all in Lumpers, but don't get too complancent.. If Marty McGuigan is back on the scene the podium positions could alter slightly guys!

JUNIORS

Unusually one of the smaller categories of the year, missing some of the usual faces. A big congratulations to Richard Smith who took 1st place in all four events (Rumour has it he was spotted pedalling in some of the events). Richard is truly one of Ireland’s greatest young talents and we at Irish DH would like to congratulate him and will be watching out for him in the IrishNPS. Not forgetting about another of Ireland’s junior talent’s, Dan Wolfe, who only competed in one event this series. It could be a close NPS! Seanan O’Riordan who moved up from U16’s took second position thanks to some great coaching by team mate Glyn O’Brien of First Tracks and Conor from Revolution. Also congratulations to Carl O’Sullivan who took fourth position and a mention goes to Stephen Gormley and Ciaran O’Donoghue who turned out for all four events!

ELITE

It’s quite unusual for such a big turnout in Elites, however, the competitive streak was out in force for the Elite scene this year as 25 riders battled it out for top position. Credit where credit it due, elite winner was a tie between Glyn O’Brien and Ben Reid, however, Glyn took first position based on the rules set out on IrishDH (in the event of a draw, best result in Bigwood Round 4 would count). Third place podium went to a well deserved Andy Smith who just keeps getting faster and faster with John Lawlor picking up fourth position and Jamie McCullough, a junior last year taking fifth. A mention also goes to Stephen Beattie who turned out for all four events and seems to keep sneaking up the ranks. New riders to the Elite scene include last year’s top seniors Wallace Irwin, Mark Smith and Ricky Lawrence. Great to see so many of Ireland’s top riders compete in the Winter League.

It’s at this point that I mention the success of the Plush 2006 winter league. A big thank you to the Plush crew for all their organizing. It’s rumoured to be one of the best series ever with 225 riders turning out! Without these riders, the event wouldn’t have been such as success. A big shout out goes to the many teams that have taken force this year including

Killarney Dhers – the big journey every week is much appreciated. Great to see you all out in force in the new kits.

Bikeology – The crew from the west couldn’t be missed at any race – and their support is more than welcomed by all the riders they’ve been supporting during the races.

Epic MTB – With a great crew coming from Epic every week, including Sean Herily and Richie Byrne, we hope to see you at all the other DH races and look forward to the Blast.

TC racing – showed off their new strip at the final round in Bigwood. The kit looks great and the craics even better. We’re looking forward to a good one at Lumpers. The standard has been set now.

Revolution/First Tracks – Another new team headed up by Glyn and Conor – could be the team to watch in the NPS!

021 Racing – Thanks for taking the very long journey. Great to see so much support from all over the country. Looking forward to the 021 NPS next year.

+ the Plush crew (you know who you are) and all the individual riders who turned up every week, the MTB DH Commission members of Jim Smith, Eamon Lawlor, Brian Wolfe.

A big thanks to everyone for the prizes including Red Bull, ZealOptics, Plush, Chain Reaction and any riders who donated back their prizes for spot prizes. Thanks to everyone for a fantastic event. The can has now been opened……