(By Sarah Piner)
The course was a challenging combination of technical single track through the woods along the edge of the lake followed by a tortuous slog up a hill, lovely. Underage
participants, accomplished mountain bikers like Richie Lenehan and Enda Munnelly and the less skilful (including myself!) did a couple of laps together to find the best lines and which tree roots to avoid before the ‘racing’ was underway. First to go off were the underage who completed two laps, they fought it out right till the end with fantastic rides from Shane Hughes, Evan Eivers, Ryan Sheridan, James Murphy and Brendan Keavaney all coming home very close together. The younger of the underage did a fantastic job of even getting over some of the tree roots, some determined cycling! Next it was the turn of the ‘big kids’ who decided that 5 laps would be appropriate as we would be lapping in 9 minutes..ish! There is no such thing as a fun race when this lot get going and the super strong cyclists showed their ability by pulling away from the word go. Well done to Damien Shaw, Peter Rimmer, Craig Sterrett, Dave Fagan and Paul Crowley (who rode a cyclocross bike making things a little more challenging for himself) making up the first five to finish. Oh and Damien thank you for your wise words ‘keep her lit’ as you lapped me with a big smile on your face coming to the finish although I don’t think she was lit in the first place! All a little tired but content with our cycle we headed into the warmth for tea and biscuits! Thank you to Damien and his family for hosting a Wheelers event and kindly allowing us complete with muddy cycling shoes into your home. I’m sure everyone will agree the course was fantastic and it was a fun day for everyone.
Ready for Racing - Riders Line Up for racing at Damien O'Briens
|