Irish National Downhill Championships 2005

Mallow, Co Cork

Ben Reid retains Irish title

July 05

For the second consecutive year, the Irish National Championships were brought to Mallow, hosted by 021 racing. 80 riders were treated to what is now called ‘The Best DH track in Ireland’ with excellent organization and a well run event.

The Track

1st Wooded Section:
Out of the gate it’s some fun, quick singletrack that has some tricky corners. A bumpy right hander over a small bent tree and a speed bump sets you up for a very fast drifty right with some roots on the quick exit. Quite fast now left across a forest path and small right hand berm into a smooth chute. A berm to the left sends you across some fun steps/bumps and a big berm takes you around to the right. A quick chute with some small jumps swings around right then left into a quarry style drop. Last weekend people were landing about half way down it. This throws you across the fireroad and back into the trees.

2nd Wooded Section:
A tricky, off camber roll in off the fireroad has you bouncing through the stumps and roots. Some difficult corners and small compressions sets riders up for 3 small jumps that are quiet close together and even closer to the trees. They can be avoided but that’s no fun. A hard left and a nice carve right takes you tight chute out onto the fireroad and a quick spin to get your breath back.

3rd Wooded Section:
The fire road gives you a fast entry speed to this very quick section. A small sets of deep braking bumps and tricky left hand kink sends you through some rocky patches and over a lump/jump. This launches you into the open section.

Open Section:
This will sort out the men from the boys, everytime I see someone ride this it blows me away. The speed on this section is unbelievable. 30mph plus. Nice and rough too. Loads of brakes and a little left right combo sends you across the rocks. Drop off the end of these and the speed goes right back up. Steep, fast and rough into a very tricky left to instant right hand berm. A nice bit of singletrack takes riders out to the fireroad and the sprint to the finish line… (thanks to 021 racing for the track description, This one was too long for me to write myself!)

The Results

U14

First place was secured by Killarney lad Conor O’Neill with an impressive 4.01.059, followed closely by Darryl Wade, who unfortunately didn't have a full licence, therefore 021 racing U14 rider David McManus took second position and Killarney's Robert Duggan took third!

U16

Killarney’s Jason Murphy took the hot seat with a very impressive 3.13.971, a time that would have placed him 4 th in senior! Jason’s Killarney team-mate Cathal Hickey took second position followed by Seanan O’Riordan, who rode with a broken finger but unfortunately didn’t take third place on podium due to failure to have a Cycling Ireland licence. Therefore Karl O’Sullivan took third podium position.

Vets

021 racing’s David McManus stole the Vet’s podium position followed by last year’s winner Peter Popham in second position with a time of 4.05.704, too quick for previous Irish champions Tom Clogher and Derek Cowan who finished third and fourth consecutively.

Ladies

Michele ran away with the ladies title, showing she’s still the one to beat! Michele finished with a 4.25 followed by Abagail Hogg’s time of 4.41 who looked like she couldn’t get enough of the track, unfortunately though she didn’t pick up her UCI points due to not being a licence holder, therefore Aoife O’Donoghue took second podium position on the day with great ride!

Seniors

Such a hotly contested category! After missing NPS 4, Ricky Lawrence returned to be put off his usual podium by Wallace Irwin’s with only a second between them, Wallace on 3.00.33 and Ricky on 3.01.60. This result was a surprise to most but check out last weeks Butter Mountain NPS result and you’ll see that Wallace won the Senior category by a clear 15 seconds! 021 racing’s local lad Damian Daly took third place on the podium. Senior category spectators were treated to an epic crash on the open rocky section by Bobby Enwright, who broke a bone in his arm. Get well wishes to Bobby from all at IrishDH.

Masters

The usual suspects took the podium positions in the Master’s category, with last year’s second placed Master Marty McGuigan stealing the title from Mark Dickson who finished in second position. After a puncture in his first race run, Joe Ward only managed to make up 8 second on his second run to take third place.

Juniors

The Junior category first and second position was a mirror image of last year’s U16 category with Dan Wolfe finishing first and Richard Smith to take second position. Richard led after the first run, but this didn’t deter Dan as he put in the second quickest time of the day with a 2.51.649. Paul Cummins, took third position with less than a second between third and second position.

Elite

A full category and the one that mattered as everyone was looking to take the precious UCI points for top 10 fastest riders. All eyes were on Ben Reid who held on to his Irish title in style taking the best time of the day by 3 seconds with a 2.48.671. Some expected last year’s second placed rider Glyn O’Brien to follow suit but Glyn crashed on his first run and was only able to manage a 2.54.202 on his second run and only managed to secure fourth position. Jamie Popham put in an impressive 2.52.95 to take second place on the podium followed by previous Irish champion, a determined John Lawlor. Ben was presented with his Irish jersey, big enough to fit two people into - I guess he'll be getting it altered again this year!

UCI points

The top 10 riders of the day received UCI points which enables them to race World Cup events for the next 12 months. The 3 Minute barrier was the magic time with only the top 10 riders breaking it:

1. Ben Reid 2.48.671

2. Dan Wolfe 2.51.649

3. Jamie Popham 2.52.950

4. John Lawlor 2.53.869

5. Glyn O’Brien 2.54.202

6. Andy Smith 2.56.593

7. Tom Power 2.56.922

8. Gerard Wolfe 2.58.067

9. Richard Smith 2.59.361

10. Paul Cummins 2.59.647

The Craic

Spectators gathered at the bottom of the open rocky section for a great view of riders coming down at speeds not even imaginable. Carl Young gave us a great laugh when he ran down the course with spectators shouting 'pedal'.... The atmosphere was great!

A big shout out has to go out to 021 racing, especially Rory O’Keefe who organized an excellent race and even had a special word with mother nature to ensure the weather was in the champs favour. Anyone that didn’t get to go to the champs has another chance on 7th August when the ZealOptics Irish NPS Round 5 will be held on the same course, which I’m sure will have a great turnout as people go there trying to better their times.

A full selection of photos courtesy of Nigel Elder & Derek Cowan are available in the gallery

For a full list of results click HERE