The first round of the winter league kicked off on Sunday 14th January 2007 in Moneyscalp Forest – the home of ‘the winter league’.

An impressive 159 riders turned out to race in the event – the biggest number of racers ever to ride in a downhill event in Ireland , never mind the winter league.

Riders were treated to the joys of Moneyscalp, along with a very cold day and gale force winds, however, this didn’t deter any of the riders, with the fewest number of DNS and DNS riders ever at a race.

The winter league witnessed the elimination of the supervets category, with the introduction of the ‘sports’ category with 24 riders competing in this category.

Here’s how the riders fared:

U14

Last year’s 2nd placed NPS rider Gavin Carroll finish in first place in Moneyscalp with an impressive time of 1.39.417, ahead of with newcomer to the sport, Matthew McDowell taking second position with 1.44.756. Less than a second later, Rostrevor's Michel McCann finished in third place with 1.45.243.

U16

With a lot of last year’s U16 riders moving up to the junior category this left the race open to lots of new faces. Banbridge’s Davy Graham took first place by 2 seconds with a time of 1.31.512 followed by Paul McGrady who took second with a time of 1.33.369. Greg Callaghan completed the top three with a time of 1.34.103. A very close category which could prove to be one of the interesting ones this year!

Ladies

Unfortunately only one lady rider turned out to race in Moneyscalp, CRC’s Abagail Hogg with a first run time of 2.04.613, which improved by almost five seconds on her second run with a time of 1.59.368. Congratulations Abagail!

Vets

Last year’s master – now moved to the vets category, Team Real Cycles/Commencal’s Stevie Davidson took first place with an impressive second run time of 1.33.820, taking the win by 10 seconds!!! Bananaman Carl Young took second place with a time of 1.43.650 with Team Real Cycles/Commencal’s Steve Baskerville taking third position with a time of 1.50.629, just beating Club CRC’s Michael White by a fraction of a second on a time of 1.50.659. Credit to last year’s supervets, now CRC’s Derek Cowan and Epic’s Tom Sheridan for an impressive race against the ‘young’ guys!

Sport

The introduction of the Sport category brought a lot of new riders to the sport with 24 riders turning out to compete in the category. Better than he may have thought – Epic's Brian Cooney took first place by nine second with a time of 1.33.347. Malcolm Bloomer improved his second run time to put him in second position with a time of 1.42.064 while MBCC's (Mountain Bike Club Cork) Niall Donovan took third with a time of 1.43.843. Close behind in the sport category were Robert Ferguson (1.45.855) and Enda Munnelly (1.46.324).

Senior

The senior category saw 33 riders compete for top position, with one of the riders subsequently being upgraded to the elite category when he won the senior category 8 seconds. Congratulations to Gareth who moved up from last year’s junior category!

Club MTBRider’s and newcomer to racing James Burns (correct me if I’m wrong) with a time of 1.27.181, less than a second ahead of 021’s Mark Tiernan on 1.27.220 and Epic’s Sean Herilhy with 1.30.038. Bikeology’s Stephen Gormley took fourth on 1.30.686 with TC Racing’s Dave Molloy on 1.31.566. Congratulations to all the new senior and sport riders.

Master

Competition was high in the master category as new Off Road Commission member Michael Cowan from the CRC team moved up to the masters category! Not to be beaten by team mate Joe Ward, Michael took the win with a time of 1.24.207, followed by European Champion Joe Ward with a time of 1.27.207, followed by Steve Franzoni’s third place position of 1.29.570. CRC’s Ian McIntyre took fourth with a time of 1.32.921 followed by the return of old school DHer Nigel Anderson close behind with a time of 1.32.928.

Junior

A full junior category with 24 riders competing for top spot. However, this couldn’t be taken from last year’s U16 winner – Club CRC’s Ewan Doherty who registered the fastest time of the day with a first run time of 1.17.596. Congraulations Ewan! Kendor management’s & Epic's Seanan O’Riordan took second place with a time of 1.25.394 with Andrew Godfrey and Epic’s Colin Franklin on the same second taking third and fourth place respectively with times of 1.25.672 and 1.25.751. Team Real Cycles/Commencal's Karl O’Sullivan took fifth with a time of 1.27.620.

Elite

It was tight at the top as five riders shared the 1.19 second mark. Ireland ’s top DHer, Ben Reid finished in first place in elites with a consistent 1.19 in both runs, first run taking the win with 1.19.213. First Tracks/Team Revolution’s Glyn O’Brien placed second on 1.19.296, with Epic’s Gerard Wolfe on 1.19.522. After posting an amazing time of 1.19.768 in the senior cat, Banbridge Cycling Club's Gareth McKee was moved into Elite to take fourth with 1.19.768, moving team Real Cycle’s/Commencal’s Stevo Beattie into fifth position with 1.19.925. An interesting category and a very close race!

U16 development fund

As part of the U16 development squad, Chain Reaction Cycles Club and Epic Club have teamed up and will be donating 10euro for every U16 rider towards the development squad. This will enable training days as well as trips to British NPS races. IrishDH would like to thank CRC and Epic for this gesture.

The craic

First and foremost the turnout for the race – a remarkable 159 riders for a ‘fun’ winter league was remarkable. Congratulations to everyone who turned out and made it the success it was. Also to any riders who moved up a category this year and any new riders who took part in this first race. It was a credit to see all the riders very decisive about which category they were going to race in and doing themselves proud.

To the riders who travelled any distance to the event – particularly from Cork , Killarney, Waterford etc – hopefully you weren’t disappointed.

Also welcome home to Tom Power who was looking well after his travels. Hope to see you at a few more races Tom.

Following the race a presentation of last year’s winners in the NPS took place. This consisted of first place riders in each category being presented with a piece of photography by Eamon Lawlor, 2007 downhill team manager and also Commisaire for the event.

Senior winner, James Burns missed out on his lunch when his dad arrived back with some burgers and chips only to discover he couldn’t find James – fortunately for the time keepers, he left the fast food with them and it didn’t last too long. Thanks to Mr Burns – hopefully James didn’t go too hungry!!

The sparks where flying as Wallace Irwin manages to destroy his disc by connecting with a rock at the stream corssing. The sparks where so bright the borest nearly caught fire!

Congratulations to everyone involved in the organisation of Sunday’s race. Particular credit goes to the time keepers whom I’m reliable informed have recorded it as ‘the coldest race they’ve ever attended’.

Getting 160 riders down the hill with a 30 second gap between riders is an amazing achievement in itself. A big thank you to everyone who hung around the finish arena to help out when they could. To Eamon who was Commissaire, Cormac from Epic, Neil, Joe (snr), Stevie Bell, Michele and the rest of Club CRC crew, they seem to raise the standard at every event – big or small!

Thanks also to anyone who helped out with the clear up at the end of the day, particularly anyone who collected rubbish. Please bear in mind that for every piece of rubbish you drop at a venue, someone will have to pick it up in order to secure the race venue for the following events.

There was also some issues with parking at Moneyscalp on Sunday. Although it is a small car park and not everyone will fit in, parking on the road is an option but please be aware that other cars will need to pass – and also please avoid blocking driveways and other roads.

May we also ask that anyone attending the second round in Cloon to please offer your assistance – however big or small this makes a remarkable difference to the time keeper, which is a difficult enough job without the added pressure of 30 seconds and such large number of riders.

The next race is in Cloon Wood, Enniskerry Co Wicklow on Sunday 28 th January 2007 . Watch this space for further information.