Lots of Enduro, Cross-country and Downhill going on and coming up

The off-road scene has been busy over the last couple of weeks with Round 2 of the Vitus First Tracks series taking place in Bigwood, Warrenpoint on 9/10 May and then the Ulster riders heading over to Wales to compete in the third round of the British XC series. This weekend the Emerald Enduro is taking place in Carrick County Wicklow. This is the second round of the Enduro World Series with a huge gathering of international riders and local riders competing across seven timed stages.

Weekend 9/10 May 2015
Vitus First Tracks Enduro Round 2 - Bigwood, Warrenpoint
Bigwood forest was alive with Enduro riders competing across 6 stages designed by Glyn O'Brien. The top 3 results in each category are shown below.

Junior Men
1. Killian Callaghan (Team Biking.ie)
2. Alistair Baron (Vitus First Tracks)
3. Aidan Hawkins (Shimna Wheelers)

Masters A Men
1. Colm Bradley
2. Martin Butterly (MAD Mtb)
3. Scott Nelson

Masters B Men
1. Glyn O'Brien (Vitus First Tracks)
2. Sean Herlihy (Gravity BC)
3. Andy Yoong (Honcho Media / Balance Leisure)

Pro Men
1. Greg Callaghan
2. Colin Ross (Vitus Bikes)
3. Daniel Wolfe (ChainReaction Cycles)

Senior Men
1. Paul Caldwell (IMBRC)
2. Laurence Farrington (Team MoCo / Biking Dirty)
3. Dale Freeburn

Supervet Men
1. Stephen Best
2. Richie Byrne
3. Gary Ennis (Giant Club Dublin)

Veteran Men
1. Daragh Smith (Giant Club Dublin)
2. Joe Ward (Potato Bred)
3. John Glover (Plush MTB)

Women
1. Maeve Baxter (Zero Gravity Racing)
2. Orla McClean (Giant Club Dublin)
3. Shona D'Arcy (Mad Elk Cycles)

Full results here

Weekend 16/17 May 2015
The 3rd round of the British XC NPS saw the Ulster team heading to Builth Wells in the picturesque valleys of South Wales. The Ulster team was minus Sean Bradley who hadn't recovered from a broken left hand from round 2 in Plymouth. The day of the race saw good race conditions with plenty of cloud cover and no sign of rain. The Elite race started at 1:00pm with Matthew Adair gridded in the 2nd row in 12th place. Unfortunately Matthew collided with Grant Ferguson (the series leader) who had stalled directly in front of him while most of the field passed by. Not the start he was expecting from his hard earned grid position but Matthew pushed hard up the first climb and managed to recover a number of places before hitting the second steep climb and settling into a steady race pace for the duration of the race and finishing in 31st position. The Junior race started 2 minutes after the Elites and James Curry had a decent start and was in 4th place when leaving the start field from a grid position of 6th. During the first lap another rider's skewer caught in James's wheel and after getting untangled he found himself 13th at the end of the 1st lap but as usual James didn't panic and set about working his way back up the field and by the end of the 2nd lap James was sitting in 8th position. During the 3rd lap James had a mechanical problem which meant he had only half his gears available for the rest of the race but still managed to finish 7th just being pipped to 6th place in a sprint finish with Jacob Phelps the current Junior Welsh champion. This leaves James sitting in a commendable 5th position overall in the British series just past the half way stage in the series. Next month sees the team move up North to Cathkin Brae in Glasgow. (Report by Jeff Ballantine)

Elite men
Gareth McKee (Banbridge CC) - 17th
Graham Boyd (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) - 23rd
Matthew Adair (Cycling Ulster) - 31st
Stuart Ballantine (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) - 34st

Junior
James Curry (Cycling Ulster) - 7th

Juvenile Men
Drew Armstrong (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) - 13th
Lee Harvey (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) - 20th

Youth
Adam Duff (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) - 13th
Thomas Creighton (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) - 14th
Craig McCarthy (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) - 20th
Ethan Creighton (Xmtb McConvey Cycles) - 27th

Weekend 22/24 May 2015
Emerald Enduro - Biking.ie - Carrick, Wicklow
This is round 2 of the Enduro World Series where the fastest enduro riders in the world will be coming to Co. Wicklow to compete
Click here for details.

Weekend 30/31 May 2015
Ulster XC Round 3 - Xmtb McConvey Cycles - Lady Dixon Park, Belfast
Click here for details

Weekend 6/7 June 2015
Irish NPS XC Round 3 - Glendalough House, Co. Wicklow
Click here for details

UCI World Cup Downhill Fortwilliam

Weekend 13/14 June 2015
Irish Downhill Series - Round 3 - Bree Co. Wicklow
Click here for details

Sperrin MTB Sportive - Harps CC - Moneymore
Pre-entry has opened for this event. Click here for details and to register

Posted by Martin Grimley
Cycling Ulster Off-road Commission