Mountain Biking West Cork

No, this one is not in the woods.Its on in skibb and a road bike is desirable for it, although you would do fine on a hardtail with slicks.
The distances are short in these so almost anyone can do them. In the one Simon and i did last september there was everyone from the carbon boys at the front to people with baskets on their bike and knobbly tired mountain bikes nearer the back. If the weather is ok it should make a nice day out and its only down the road, you could bike there and back for a pure day out.
All details and entry, HERE

There is in fact a number of these coming up, so take your pick,

4th of March Too Cool for School  Duathlon

10th of March Fastnet Duathlon Schull

18th of March Valentia Duathlon

25th of March West Cork Duathlon Series 1 – Clonakilty

8th of April West Cork Duathlon Series 2 – Bantry

22nd of April West Cork Duathlon Series 3 – Skibbereen

Westcorktimes piece

I now its nothing biking but its for a very good cause (cycstic fibrosis) and its only up the road in the Mealagh Valley. Run or walk. Pre entry 15 @runireland or 20 on the day. Race starts at 12 noon.
Did this last year and the best part was eating my own weight in buns and yummies after in the hall.

All info,HERE

So a few of the lads headed to Fermoy today for the 2nd round of the Kinetica Munster xc Series in Corrin Woods.

The oragnisers put on a fine show by all accounts, the course had long fireroad climbs and tricky descents which no doubt suited the westcork lads.

IN the junior cat, Alez Nowotynski had a flyer and despit no real compeition in his grade he put in a solid 2 laps and rode the entire course, despite a bunch of Elites walking sections. He has now all but secured the coveted winners jersey, which each category winner receives at the end of the series.

Alex Concentrating

All this is good training for the National points series in cross country (as opposed to Downhill, which he raced a few of in the last 2 years, coincidently that series now looks defunct for 2012) where no doubt he will have much tougher opposition, especially if he travels to rounds outside Munster. Rich again finished mid pack in sports.

In the Elite race it was all round rider Greg O C leading until Niall o Hara caught him near the end taking the win. Behind this there was a battle royal between Our own James Pittam(now MBCC) and Brian ‘Mcstud’ Mccarthy, also latching on to these was long time xc racer John Crowley of Killarney, having gotten rid of the kerry man, both James and Brian had mechanicals and had to run the last half lap, they were caught and passed by a couple of more fortunate riders but still had a good laugh running along with there bikes, Brian proving the better runner on this occasion.

James leading , John and ‘Mcstud’

Further back was James brother Rory, Back after a long break but who has been doing a lot of riding lately who finished strong despite lots of chain problems during his race.

Rich

All in all apparently it was a good hard days racing and a successful one for the WestCork contingent. Photos to follow.

The Kinetica Munster XC Series
Round 1 Tracton Woods, Co. Cork

James Pittam (from Johnstown) was back after injury riding a fine race in elites.

Ollie cornforth from Kealkil in the u-14 race

Alex Nowotynski 1st and Pat callagan 3rd

Donncha’s legs showing just how muddy it was!

Sunday January 29th saw the first round of an exciting new Mountain Bike race series kick off at Tracton Woods near Carrigaline in Co. Cork. The event was hosted by www.mbcc.ie which is one of Corks growing Mountain Bike clubs.

Despite some pretty wet weather in the days preceding the race a large crowd attended on the day with 109 adults signing on throughout the categories and 45 Youth riders racing. The trail was a testing course as the rain created a very muddy atmosphere. This was to be winter time Mountain biking at its best. Over the years MBCC have developed a fantastic club resource at the woods through Coillte where members can enjoy their training, sport and competition.

This years Kinetica Munster XC Series has 5 rounds of racing at the end of which overall Champions will be crowned. this being the first round, everyone was keen to see the “in form” riders would be.

The crowd showed some great support to the winners as they took their places on the podium just before the kick of the main event of Adult category racing. By now the start line had 150 Mountain Bikers, their family and friends gathered and the atmosphere was fantastic.

At 12 midday the main racing got underway with the Elite Category going first. Many of these riders are training 5/6 times a week at a very high level. 3 laps of grueling 4.8 kilometre track followed and the crowded were treated to thrilling racing. Host club MBCC’s very own Niall O’Hara took 3rd place on his home track. Niall is a rising star of XC racing. A team one two for Thinkbike.ie’s Richie Felle and Sebastien Roman was the settling of the results in this category with the rest of the field battling very hard for valuable ranking points. Of the Westcork riders Donncha o Brien was flying in 4th position until a lost gear cable meant he had to run with his bike for the last 1km and dropped to 6th, being passed by Cam Cornforth (soon to be 17 year old downhiller from Kealkil) who finished an impressive 5th. Also racing in his first ever MTB race and racing in the Elite category was top triathlete from Schull, Leon Whelton who rode to a fine 16th in the very tough conditions, Leon confessed after that he had no idea it would be so exhausting but that he was looking forward to more MTB racing.

The munster overall thus was, Niall o Hara, Brian Mccarthy, Cam Cornforth, Donncha O Brien, in that order. Top Munster racer Matt Slattery of Killarney CC was out injured but will be back at the head of affairs on sunday next in Fermoy.

Sports Men’s category followed with 2 laps of the course. These riders are just as keen as the rest and certainly the lead positions changed as the race progressed! Michael Hennessy from Fermoy took a fine win but it was Jonathan Maunsell of Team Ballyhoura who surprised many with 2nd place in just his 2nd year of racing. Jason Murphy of Killarney CC claimed third. The ‘Big Man’ Richard Thornhill had a fine race coming home mid pack (16th out a 34)

Team Ballyhoura were on a roll as Jonathans younger sister Leah won the Senior Ladies as well as the under 14’s earlier. This shows just how talented she is! Jennifer Fortune of MBCC finished second. We hope that more women will feel encouraged to come and race in future rounds. Its not as hard as you might think!

The Juniors category finished the racing off and Alex Nowotynski from West Cork put in a devastating performance to take a big win, certainly he is displaying all the attributes to make the jump into the Senior ranks as he grows, following him home in third was westcork local and new comer to the sort Pat Callaghan, a great result for the 2 westcork lads.

The day finished off with a well attended prize giving ceremony with a great atmosphere. The prizes were of a very high standard as the many sponsors were very generous. We would like to thank all the race marshals, medics and club members that made the day possible. Rothar Cycles Carrigaline, Eurocycles Dublin, Trailriders Ballyhoura, Dare 2B clothing donated prizes. KTM Bicycles Ireland have very kindly donated a bike worth €1200 as a prize to be raffled at the end of the series in May to all entrants. Finally Kinetica Sports of West cork have been a wonderful prime sponsor of this series.

Now the focus shifts to Round 2 next Sunday 5th at Corrin Woods, Fermoy.

More excitement as 021 Racing host this event.
Race details available on www.munsterxc.com and facebook.

small turnout with poor ground conditions on Sunday morning but Alex proved his hard work is paying off, adrian was on the pace for the first bike but his fittness left him down after that.

Lil Tinski  bike 14.04 run 15.25 bike 14.20 total 45min dead

Tinski bike 14.40 run 21.20 bike 17.20 total 51.20

Pat bike 18.27 run 21.40 bike 19.17 total 59.27

This is a free event for anyone with a mountain bike, helmet and who can run or walk.

The loop is 2.75km long and you will do it 3 times, bike, run, bike.
I will have some signs/tape up on the course directing you, although most will know the loop as the Introductory XC loop we did first on the last spin.

It will be in Timetrial format, that is, you start on your own and race against the clock.You can go as fast or slow as you like.

Results will be posted on here on Sunday evening.

There will be a spin after if there is enough people up for it.
The weather looks surprisingly good for Sunday morning at present.

*Off road duathlon is now being run on the day by Richard Thornhill, allround mountain bike man.

Cheers

Click here Munster XC Mountain Biking Promo

Great track, real effort put in, so lets support this one.

More info at www.munsterxc.com

*Save some money!

On the MBCC website it says that for the xc bike race,  you will need a day license(20 euro) to race if you do not have  an annual one (90 euro if you are a member of a C.I club) and the entry fee is 10 euro. To save a bit you can simply join cycling ireland as a standard member (15 euro if you have not joined before) and day licenses are then 10 euro, so if you do say, 3 races in 2012, it will 45 for day licenses (3 by 10 and the 15) instead of 60 (3by 20). If your going to do more than this you should probably get a restricted comp license for the year, which is 90 euro as stated above.

Just said i would let yee all know.

So another great turn out for the spin in Clashnacrona woods this morning. The trails were in good condition despite all the rain recently, with the forecast of no rain for the week they should dry out a bit too. Well done to the new comers today who rode really well, we started off with the XC loop and then headed higher on the hill for C2 which is an old downhill track but with a little deviation can be ridden as a a hard XC trail, which is what we did and from the smiles and whoops at the bottom this went down a treat, with a few heading back up for another run. We will have a duathlon in 2 weeks time which is on the first xc loop we did today and is a run bike run bike format on that 2.75km loop and even if you dont run much or at all, is still very achievable.

Entry will be free and just like the recent rides there is no insurance cover. If something happens to you whilst out on your bike or running you are responsible for yourself, there is no club cover as mtbwestcork is not affiliated to any cycling federation, it is basically an online notice board, where individuals post where they will be riding or running, so when we meet up we are merely a bunch of individuals congregating to excercise together.

Details of Duathlon on Sun 22nd Jan@ 10am to follow.

saw this and just had to post it, inspiration for next year’s DH!