Report from Day 2 of the National XC Championships

Day 2 of the 2024 National Cross-country Mountain Bike Championships took place on Sunday 21 July 2024 at Tonygarrow in County Wicklow. This private farm with adjacent forest was tested last year as Round 4 of the National Cross-country series. Host club Team WORC have build on their work and experience from last year to deliver an exciting and well set out course with lots of features to keep riders engaged and spectators entertained. With yesterday’s youth courses now dismantled there was only the main course with the ‘short cut’ for Under 14s. The weather was better today than yesterday, still mostly overcast but warm with outbreaks of sunshine and only the occasional short spell of light rain. The event field was filled with cars, there was a tea/coffee/bun van and a taco wagon on site. Paul Joyce was on the microphone and providing the tunes. All was set for some exciting racing. Missing from the day’s action was Geoff Seymour, a stalwart of cycling, who died on 22 June 2024. Sadly missed.

The first race of the day was for the Under 14s. The Under 14 boys had to complete 3 laps of the reduced course with the Under 14 girls completing two laps. The first close competition of the day was between the series winner Oscar Moran (EPIC MTB Expert Cycles) and James Cunningham (Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club). James lead at the end of the first lap with Oscar not far behind. At the end of lap 2 this gap had widened with James still on the front. James continued to stretch this gap to take the win. Oscar had to settle for second. Darragh Murphy (Rostrevor Mountain Bike Club) completed the podium for the boys. In the girls’ race Aoife Craig (VC Glendale) lead from start to finish. Ava Baker (Breffni Wheelers) was second with Ciara O’Connor (Drogheda Wheelers) third. Due to the lack of entries over the last two years, this year’s Under 14 girls race did not attract the status of national championship.

After a break for podium presentations the next race was for the Under 16s, Junior men, Women and Masters M60s. They used the full course. In the three lap Under 16 boys’ race Ryan Daly (Scott Racing IRL) and Curtis McKee (Spellman-Dublin Port) were neck and neck at the end of lap 1. However on lap 2 Curtis picked up a puncture and dropped back from Ryan. Ryan went on to take the chequered flag. Curtis finished second with Oliver O’Shaughnessy (Bellurgan Wheelers) third and Fionn Crinion (IMBRC) fourth.

In the Under 16 girls’ race Mia Geary (Fermoy Cycling Club) took the win ahead of Cara Suckling (VC Glendale) with Lacey Aicken-Johnson (North Down CC) finishing third. Ben O’Keeffe (Spellman-Dublin Port) was the only entry in the Junior men’s race. The M60s race had just two entries. World Masters Champion Johnny McCabe (Cuchulainn CC) was glad to be back racing after his injury at Round 3 of the XC series. Terence O’Neill (EPIC MTB Expert Cycles) finished second. Due to the lack of entries over the last two years, the Under 16 girls and Junior men did not attract the status of national championship. The Masters M60 race is still waiting to be recognised as a national championship category.

With three wins from the cross-country series this year, Greta Lawless (Team WORC) was expected to take the win at the women’s national championship race. Greta’s only challenger was last year’s national champion Caoimhe May (Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club). From the starting whistle Greta did take to the front of the women’s race. Caoimhe did give a strong chase but Greta did prove too strong especially on this course that did suit her skills. Greta went on to take the win with Caoimhe finishing second. Junior rider Faith Robinson (Bray Wheelers) was third with Leah McCarthy (K Capital Rocky Mountain) fourth, Jean Wilson (EPIC MTB Expert Cycles) fifth and Fiona Lally (EPIC MTB Expert Cycles) sixth.

After another break for podium presentations, it was time for the M40s and M50s race. Both had to complete 4 laps. In the M40s race it was host club rider Brian Melia who lead from start to finish. Giving a good chase was visiting rider William Simmons who normally competes in Great Britain. Raymond O’Shaughnessy (Bellurgan Wheelers) was third with Geoffrey Robinson (Bray Wheelers) fourth and Michael Burton (Team WORC) fifth.

In the M50s race there was no surprise when Robin Seymour (Team WORC) appeared first after lap 1. Having designed the course it was expected that Robin would know where every good race line was. What was more surprising is that fact that at the end of four laps Robin had managed to pass all of the M40s. This was despite the M50s starting 2 minutes after the M40s. So Robin was the first to cross the finish line. A remarkable feat especially as this was the 30th anniversary of his first national championship win. The 1994 national championships were captured by Peter Purfield here (YouTube). Peter was back at this event videoing again! Behind Robin it was Pj Hynes (Bellurgan Wheelers) who finished second. John Doris (EPIC MTB Expert Cycles) was third with Fergal Kilkenny (Hush MTB) fourth and Gerard O’Donnell (IMBRC) fifth.

After the podium presentations for the M40s and M50s it was the turn of the Seniors and M30s. The Seniors had 6 laps to complete with the M30s racing for 5 laps.

In the M30s race the pre-race favourite Sean Feeney (Team WORC) was leading for the first two laps, being chased by Lee Clarke (Cycleology Racing Team). The crowd expected this battle to continue to the finish, however, at the end of lap 3 it was Graham Boyd (McConvey Cycles) who appeared first out of the forest. Graham had been lying in third place but suddenly he was at the front and there was no sign of Sean or Lee. They both did eventually appear and were indicating that they had had punctures. Graham had managed to avoid these issues and was now capitalising on the opportunity. Sean and Lee both got underway with new wheels but they couldn’t get close to the ever cool Graham. Graham went on to finish over 2 minutes ahead of Sean and Lee to a huge round of applause. A very popular and long overdue win. All eyes were then on the gap in the trees at the bottom of the course to see whether it would be Sean or Lee appearing. Both riders appeared at once with Sean at the front of Lee. There was a sprint finish for the line but Sean managed to hold off Lee. A truly exciting finish.

In the Senior open race there was no surprises who took the win as Christopher Dawson (Spectra Wiggle p/b Vitus) lead from start to finish and had a comfortable 4 minutes lead on his rivals. Dean Harvey (Trinity Racing) was lying in second place for laps 1 and 2 but it was David Montgomery (Spellman-Dublin Port) who took over second place from laps 3 to 5. On the final lap Dean recovered second place leaving David to settle for third. Travis Harkness (Spellman-Dublin Port) finished fourth with Robert McKenna (Bray Wheelers) fifth.

A huge thanks to Robin Seymour and Evan Ryan and all from Team WORC for hosting this year’s national cross-country championships. A great weekend of racing. An exciting and well set up course. Thanks to Paul Joyce for the commentatary and to all supporting vendors. This concludes the 2024 cross-country national events. Thanks to all the riders, parents and spectators. We look forward to another season next year.

Commissaire: Martin Grimley

Results here

Report and photos above by Martin Grimley

Report from Day 1 – here

Photos
Keith Colville (Facebook) – here

Videos
Caroline Martinez (YouTube) – here
Peter Purfield (YouTube) – here