MTB League Round 10

Tuesday 23^rd July saw round 10 of the Cuchulainn MTB league being contested, again on the open mountain.  The course this week, slightly longer than previous weeks at 11.5km was filled with variety and also included some of the sections of the “Cooley Thriller”.  The recent break in the good weather and the thundery showers in the area of the Cooleys caused us to postpone the start of the race by some 30 minutes to allow it to clear the area, better safe than sorry.

As is always the case, the riders started off in their handicap groups starting at the “Wooden Gate” along the fire road and ascent to “G String” corner, down the “Grassy Bank” to “Skull Alley” to the Long Woman's Grave, onto the road and right back onto the “Grassy Bank”, left onto “The Castles” and to the finish at the “Wooden Gate”.

For some of the riders the route had sections which they hadn’t ridden before, the recent spell of very dry weather had dried up parts of the mountain which for the best part of the year you are not able to ride, this was especially true of the descent from “G String” corner, while most riders managed to negotiate this, there were a few notable flying departures from the bikes, resulting in nothing more than a winding, time to make up and something funny to talk about in the Lumpers bar afterwards.

With the first part of the race completed, all but two riders were either starting the ascent up the steep “Grassy Bank” or had made good progress up towards the turn to “The Castles”.  The ascent only 600m in length but technical in places and up to 18% gradient was a real leg and lung tester resulting in a lot of the race positions changing just on this climb alone.  All that was left was the run to the finish around “The Castles” and the final climb and sprint to the line.  In the lead was Meave Baxter and with only 100m to go Gary Sheils crested the climb behind her, the setting sun making it difficult to see the trail in front, both raced for the line, however Gary got the better line and took the finish with Meave coming in 2^nd only 5 seconds behind Gary, Michael Wilson rounding out 3^rd place.

With only 2 weeks of the league remaining, very few points separate the top 8 riders, it’s anyone’s to win, or to loose.

As always, thanks have to go to this week’s timekeepers, Sean Kelly and Sarah Fagan.

Results of Round 10

1^st – Gary Sheils
2^nd – Meave Baxter
3^rd – Michael Wilson

Fastest Rider

Gary Sheils – 38min 8 secs

Round 11 will be on Tuesday 30th July @ 7pm, all visiting club riders and guests are welcome to compete as long as they hold a current (2013) Cycling Ireland Licence.