Chain Reaction Cycles/Red Bull

Irish Downhill National Championships 2007

Ben Reid retains Irish title

July 07

On Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th July 2007, the Irish National Downhill mountainbike championships were held in Rostrevor Forest, hosted by Chain Reaction Cycling Club and Red Bull.

The event started to kick off on Thursday/Friday, with plenty of people visiting the track to get set up for the weekend as well as pitching their tents. Campers who arrived on Thursday got away relatively unharmed, however, by Friday at lunchtime the rain started!

The Chain Reaction camper van arrived shortly after lunch on Friday and was the first vehicle to be pushed up the hill by enthusiastic locals. Shortly afterwards Team Animnal/Commencal arrived with the Athertons, complete with 4x4 to pull them up the hill to set-up.

Many vehicles later and the crowd in the field were no longer enthusiastic about the prospect of pushing any more vehicles up the field, so some had to stay parked in the mud at the gate overnight until Saturday morning when one of the uplift tractors spent a few hours towing vehciles to their desired position in the field.

Seeding took place on Saturday evening with 168 riders taking place in the seeding. Gee Atherton took fastest time of the day with 2.23.800 followed by brother Dan on 2.25.641 with ireland's Ben reid following on a time of 2.27.717. Top 10 in seeding was as follows:

Sunday racing started at 12.Here's how the riders fared:

U14

Killarney's Robert Duggan took first place in the U14 category after just completing his first run in the event. Niall O'Dowd managed second place after finishing first in seeding on Saturday evening while Banbridge's Kyle Rimmer held onto third place on the podium with a time of 2.55.820.

U16

Banbridge's Davy Graham broke the three minute barrier to take first place, 9 seconds ahead of 2nd place with a time of 2.56.600. Killarney's Taryan Lewis held on to second place on the podium with a second run time of 2.05.299 while Killarney's Conor O'Neill held on to third place with a second run time of 3.07.280.

Women

Great to see Maeve and Abagail turn out to battle for the champs title. Maeve Baxter was flying on the day to take first place over a minute and a half ahead of Abagail Hogg. Maeve managed a time of 4.17.680 to Abagail's 5.44.110.

Supervets

The supervets category was introduced for the nationals with the hope of a complete side of 'auld boys'. Peter Popham managed to hold on to first place with a first run time of 4.24.710. Chain Reaction's Derek Cowan clocked a better time in his second run, however it wasn't good enough for first pace. TC Racing's Tom Clogher held on to third place with a time of 5.19.120, ahead of Tom Sheridan who only turned up on Sunday morning and still managed a respctable time of 6.16.720.

Vets

Stevie Bell back from his travels registered a second run time of 3.18.220 to take first place ahead of Carl Young's 3.21.590 in second place. Colin Finley, back from race organising managed a second run time of 3.50.450 to take third place on the podium.

Sport

The first time a sports category was held at the national championships. Enda Munnelly took first place with a first run time of 3.18.460, half a second ahead of Gary Wall who held on to second place with a second run time of 3.19.950. Local lad Ray McCann managed third place with a time of 3.23.320, however, due to most sport riders only carrying a day licence, first place goes to Enda Munnelly, 2nd to David Pepper with third place going to Niall Donovan.

Senior

All the top senior riders pulled out all the stops in their second run to battle it out for top place. Killarney's Ben Mullen held on to first place with a time of 2.50.340, four second's ahead of Epic's Brian Cooney who registered a time of 2.54.860. New to the scene and on his second race, James McFerran held on to third place with a time of 2.56.240, unfortunately as James only carried a day licence, third place went to 021 Racing's James O'Carroll.

Master

Chain Reaction's Michael Cowan was in top form to take first place, 17 seconds ahead of second placed teammate Joe Ward. Michael clocked a time which would have placed him 7th in elite with a first run time of 2.41.170. Joe clocked a time of 2.58.800, ahead of Steve Franzoni who managed a second run time of 3.03.500 to hold on to third place on the podium.

Junior

Ewan Doherty only managed to finish his first run, however, this was good enough to hold on to the top spot with a fantastic time of 2.40.050! Jason Murphy managed a second run time of 2.43.038 to take second place, ahead of Seanan O'Riordan's second run time of 2.47.070 to finish third place on the podium.

Elite

Not surprisingly our world class visitors, Gee and Dan Atherton took first and second place consecutive with time of 2.19.73 and 2.22.37, however, as the guys didn't hold an Irish licence, the national title went to Ben Reid who registered a first run time of 2.23.910, took the national title six seconds ahead of First Track's Glyn O'Brien/ Epic's Dan Wolfe managed third place on the podium with a first run time of 2.35.560.

UCI points were awarded to top 10 riders:

1. Gee Atherton

2. Dan Atherton

3. Ben Reid

4. Glyn O'Brien

5. Daniel Wolfe

6. Greg O'Keefe

7. Ewan Doherty

8. Michael Cowan

9. Gerard Wolfe

10. Dale McMullan

Women

1. Maeve Baxter

2. Abagail Hogg

The organisers would like to thank everyone who made the event a success. The Baxter family for providing the use of their field. The caterers, the tractors who worked tirelessly towing vehicles all weekend. All the marshalls who helped out as well as the timing ladies and the local Rostrevor people for putting up with us for the weekend.

A big thanks also to the sponsors, Chain Reaction Cycles who provided a £1,000 prise fund in vouchers for the event. Also to Red Bull for sponsoring the event and to Headcount Solutions for their sponsorship.

Without the help of everyone, the event would not have been possible....

Finally, a big congratulations to the 178 riders who turned out to compete in the event. The conditions were not ideal, however, the weather didn't put a dampner of the spirits of anyone. Whether you went home with or without a medal, the skill and determination of all the riders makes everyone a winner!