Inter-provincial Youth MTB Competition report
The first Inter-provincial Youth Mountain Bike Competition took place on Sunday 1 September 2024 at the McCrystal Cyclo-cross Track in County Louth hosted by the Cycling Ireland Off-road Commission. Six teams had entered with a total of 22 riders in the age groups Under 12, Under 14 and Under 16. There were four events on the schedule. The skills section, a time trial, a hill climb and a team relay. The weather had remained dry all day.
The riders had around one hour to practice the skills section before they had their official ‘run’. There were 6 compulsory obstacles, bunny hop, bottle lift, skinnies, side hop, cones and then the circle hop. There was also a bonus wheelie section. Kealan Doherty and Kieran Mulvaney scored the highest points (14) in this section among the boys. Among the girls, Aoife Campbell and Ava Baker both scored 6 points. Riders who picked up faults had these faults carried over as time penalties for the time trial and hill climb. The Ulster 14 team had picked up the most points from the skills section.
Video link to the skills practice (YouTube) here.
Next up was an individual time trial around the largest fields at the McCrystal site. The fastest rider was Fionn Crinion in a time of 4:13 however he had two faults at the skills section which added 20 seconds to his time (10 seconds per fault). Taking into account the time penalties added, it was Darragh Murphy who picked up the maximum points for the time trial with a combined time of 4:29. Aoife Campbell picked up the maximum points among the girls with a combined time of 5:03. The Ulster 14 team had again picked up the most points from this event.
After some time for a spot of lunch and some practice, it was the hill climb next. Riders were lined up in race plate order at the bottom of the hill. They had to power up the first hill, drop back down and the ride up through the switch backs. A time penalty of 5 seconds was added for each fault from the skills section. The fastest rider up the hill was Oscar Moran (1:02) but with the combined times of the time penalties, it was Darragh Murphy who finished with the fastest combined time of 1:08. Aoife Campbell’s combined time was 1:23 making her the fastest among the girls. The Ulster 14 team was continuing their dominance of this competition.
The final event was the team relay. The riders were given a briefing off their bikes on what they had to do. The first rider from each team set off with the second rider then moving into the transition zone. The first rider had to dismount and run to their number 2 and tap them on the shoulder to send them off. Rider 1 exited the course and then rider 3 moved into the transition zone and the process repeated until the fourth rider crossed the line. There was some great racing at this event with riders giving it their all. Team IMBRC took the win despite Fionn Crinion having to do two runs due to only having 3 in their team. Second place went to Ulster 14 with third going to Cycling Leinster. Fourth was the All Stars (a combination from two provinces) with fifth place going to Ulster 12 and Connacht rounding up the order.
For the prize ceremony, the top 3 girls were Ava Baker (1st), Aoife Campbell (2nd) and Laoise Crinion (3rd). The top 3 boys were Darragh Murphy (1st), Kealan Doherty (2nd) and Cian Walsh (3rd). The top 3 teams were Ulster 14 (1st), Leinster (2nd) and IMBRC (3rd).
A huge thanks to Bryan McCrystal for the use of the land and the timing system. Thanks to the Liz Roche and to all the supporting team managers and helpers. It is hoped this event will be a feature of the cycling calendar moving forward. To the riders, keep practicing those bike skills!!
Results here.
Race report by Martin Grimley
