One of the biggest clubs in Ireland (if it’s the biggest I apologise Richie – and I’m sure you’ll put me right) made good use of its minions, goobers et al with the Happy Fairy and Adam Tynan leading and directing them.

 

 

 

 

Is Cloon in Iceland ....yes Iceland......not Ireland......Iceland and not the frozen food shop. Well there again Cloon Wood was like a big open version of an Iceland shop.... you didn’t need a fridge and could have frozen your turkey (or whatever) by simply leaving it beside the track.. ....or even beside one of the frozen Marshals who undoubtedly had frozen b-ll-x – the guys that is.

 

 

The middle section of the track was frozen solid for most of Saturday and although the sun did show its face it was still savagely cold. If Saturday was cold Sunday was another dimension and the race moved from Iceland to the Arctic Circle with a cold biting wind and minus zero chill factor keeping the diehards who “camped” overnight awake most of the night and van engines could be heard running periodically throughout the night in an attempt to get warm. A few of the ex-Bikeology boys from Omagh seemed to fare worst and they’ve hopefully thawed out back in the sunny North West. Some salt on the track helped matters and although the Wood exhibited freezer type conditions the track itself became red hot with some amazing skills and times.

 

 

Over 150 riders signed on and with the “no refund” sign being quickly whipped up and put on display once the snow started there were no pull outs.......just some heroes, legends in the making and some lambs to the slaughter. One of the MAD boys turned out in one the old MAD skin suits... betcha his lunch pack wasn’t impressive in the cold...but the “commissar” was allegedly distracted elsewhere and too busy to disqualify him for his totally colourful but illegal race wear. There were crashes galore and riders kept on crashing right at the end, loads of top riders, going down in sight of the line, it was actually quite funny, lads running across the line minus bike etc.- a warped sense of humour you might say but funny nevertheless!

 

 

Jacob Dickson (Potato Bred) had his first outing of the year and justified his tag as being one to watch out for in 2010 by taking the win from another young talent, Luke Cornforth (021 Racing). These boys will be hard to beat as the season goes on. Ben Kennedy took 3^rd place with two very consistent runs.

 

 

Dan Sheridan (Flow Racing) showed that he was back to form and his time of just under 1.17 would have placed him 1^st in juniors and 5^th in elites! Pretty awesome. Cameron Cornforth (021 Racing) and Adam Tarbett fought it out for 2^nd and 3^rd respectively with the current Irish U14 Champion Cameron pipping Adam by a few seconds.

 

Nathalie Jedda (Epic MTB) led home a 1, 2, 3 for the Epic MTB club with Silvia Gallagher and Orla Power filling the 2^nd and 3^rd podium positions. Julie Rea (CRC) made a welcome (and all too rare) appearance to finish just of the podium in 4^th place. With a number of the ladies yet to turn out the womens cat is looking good for this season.

 

Karl Thomas (EpicMTB) took his second win of the season ahead of the fast improving Victor McMinn (Banbridge CC). These two were well clear of the chasing pack of Peter Popham (Flow Racing), Tom Sheridan (Flow Racing and unaccustomed to not being on the podium) and Vincent Bradley.

 

The pony tail express that is Ian MacIntyre (CRC and a novice and freshman in this cat ho ho) also took his second win of the season. More used to the tropical conditions of Rostrevor and Ballymena (hey), the mac attack allegedly didn’t like the ice hard conditions...but he still won...and on this occasion was pushed very hard by another fast improving and ever consistent rider, Steven Graham (Banbridge CC). The ever present Carl Young (Dublin Blazers) just took 3^rd place from Gary Williams (EpicMTB). International snapper Victor Lucas (EpicMTB) made a rare appearance finishing in 6^th, two places ahead of leading Epicurian and chief of the goobers, Richard Byrne. Once a regular on the DH scene Richie is now a committed lycra clad fan of XC but as head honcho of EpicMTB still finds the time to support all of the riders and disciplines within Epic and it was good to see him riding rather than abusing passing riders and playing at Steven Spielberg.......it is however amusing and dare I say it..... inspiring... again in a warped way.

 

The sport cat. A lot of you guys should get yourselves into the Senior cat. The Brians dominated Sports with Brian O’Sullivan just squeezing out Brian Conway by less than a second. Michael Lee wasn’t too far off either only 1.8 secs behind Brian C. An impressive 28 riders turned out.

 

An equally impressive 33 riders battled it out in seniors and it was Conor Duffy who took the honours from Kevin Coughlan (LCR) by just over a second with first year Senior Marc Potts making his season debut and showing his potential in 3^rd place. This will be a cracker category this year with so many riders capable of taking the win.

 

 

If this was a horse race it would be a photograph finish with only 0.567 secs separating the top 5 riders and 2.5 the top7! Was David Lenehan the happiest man in Cloon...quite probably... and deservedly so! David finished just ahead of Bruce Murphy, Eamon O’Reilly, Dammo Duggan (Flow Racing) and Peter Stanley with Denis Corkery and Kevin Moran in 6^th and 7^th. So close.....the hearts must have been beating overtime but David’s second run time (11 secs faster than his 1^st run) just shaved it.

 

 

One of the favourites for the Juniors this year, Gavin Kelly (Flow Racing), was a well deserved winner with a time that would have placed him 6^th in the Elites and there’s no doubt that he will improve even more as the season progresses. Chris Murphy had his first outing of the year and took 2^nd place from Eoin Grant who was also venturing out for his first event. In a field of 12 Michael Rea (CRC) and Paul Smyth finished 4^th and 5^th respectively.

 

 

The fast boys were as expected......fast, and leading by example was son of Frank Zappa, Seanan O’Riordan (Flow Racing) who blazed a path down the track and was just too quick for the “less fast” fast boys. Gareth McKee from Banbridge pushed hard and just held off last years junior Irish Champion Greg Callaghan (EpicMTB) with Karl O’Sullivan (Flow Racing) leading the chasers. With some regulars yet to feature this season the Elite cat looks even more competitive than last year with a whole host of riders all capable of winning and podium placing on a regular basis.

A great event with an impressive turnout and good organisation.

 

 

Big James OC (and Nat) were there as usual as OC Tuning and James allegedly refused to take off his gloves in case his hands stuck to a bike frame. Thanks to all those involved and in particular Sean Herlihy and Adam Tynan.......not forgetting the frozen Marshals. It was good to see an event back at Cloon and perhaps Richie can ensure that Cloon is brought back to Ireland from Iceland/Arctic Circle. The next two rounds are in historical Moneyscalp and for all those thinking of entering DH race for the first time........there’s no better time and place to do it.