Tommy McCoy Leading the train BOOM Photo: Owen Franssen

After a winter of planning and scheming with all parties involved we ended up in Mt Hillary near Mallow for Round 1 for Round 1 of the 2013 CRC IDMS being hosted by the 021Racing Club on what could be the best Downhnill Course in the country which was Primed and ready after some trojan work by the Trail fairies after 6 years out of action, few rocks, Ok a LOT of rocks here and there, bit of Gravel here to carry speed and cut back the brush there and she’s alive again.

as any Trail Builder knows its never that easy but the 2 training days held in the venue over the winter showed the weak points and they were promptly touched up. back to the race and despite the mercury dipping to -4 in the morning Saturday turned out to be a cracker, Blue Skies and sun, no wind and a track running super fast after the last week of dry weather.
so fast the Riders who had been used to the track in the wet after the training days had to readjust fast to coming into stuff a whole lot faster than expected resulting in some tree hugging antics on the first few corners.
the track itself could be best described as split into 4 sections, first woods being fast and flowey not too technical but still requiring some creative lines on some corners, into the second woods and it got a bit nastier with nice big stumps and roots everywhere to catch ya and spit of off line, out of that,small sprint down the fire road (or sit and shake the hands out if there already suffering from arm pump) and into the open section of about 150 meters of a rock and root garden that fully tested any damping in the forks from there into the gully which wasn’t much smoother but come race time got a bit hairy with the clouds and rain finally arriving making the clay soil a bit like ice in places. get through that and a few more tight switchbacks and your spat out into the final fire road spring to kill the legs, best time was 2.48 which is a good bit longer than any DH raced in recent years in Ireland so a lot of people got a wake up call I think.

Conor Bate on his way to the Win Photo, Martin Crowley

onto the racing and in the Juveniles Kyle O’Connor came in 3rd place, Ollie Cornforth showed whats he’s capable of with a good second place but was just pipped to the win by Conor Bate who came in with a great time of 3.21.

luke cornforth and his crazy double Photo: GrRANA energy

in the Youth it was last years National Champ Tommy O’Sullivan from Killarney taking 3rd place behind Nukeproof’s Ben Kennedy but it was Luke Cornforth taking the win on a borrowed bike with a time of 3.05.

Tara O’Boyle on her way to the win Photo: Martin Crowley

Next up was the Women’s Class which again was underrepresented but Sacha Bickerstaff and Tara O’Boyle took on the challenge and gave it socks, Tara took the win despite being very worried pre race about her young competitors pace.
in the Super Vets it was Chain Reaction Cycles Derek Cowan taking 3rd place behind MBCC’s Pat Hurley and and Team Ballyhoura’s Joe Bergin taking a well deserved win.
onto the young lads in Vets and it was the flying welshman Gary Williams in 3rd place after an Interesting run, 2nd went to 021 racing’s Darrell McGrath in his first race in Vets but the convincing win went to Chain Reactions Ian McIntyre with a time of 3.18

Steve Jamison followed by Ian Mac and Dale McMullen the Gully Section

in the masters it was Steven Jamison taking 3rd place behind Tomel Panszczyk but it was another win for Chain Reaction with Dale McMullen taking the win by 2.5seconds with a time of 3.09.
next up was the Sports class where Mark Morris From Bree Racing took 3rd place, Darren Stanley took 2nd place and the win went to Stephen Kelly.

Michael Lee on his way to winning Seniors Photo;GrRANA energy

In the seniors it was Bree Racings Bobby St Ledger on that day Glow Identiti taking 2rd place, Cian Clarke from North West MTB taking 2nd and the win went to Michael Lee by just .41 of a second with another 3.18.2

Junior Podium

in the Juniors it was Gravity BC’s Scott Marshall taking 3rd place behind Green Bike’s Thomas McCoy and on top of the box for his First win was 021Racings Alan Conolly with a 3.09.

Philip Atwill on his way to the win Photo: GrRANA energy

now onto the big boys in Elite where Colin Ross decided not to jump to masters and keep the young lads honest and proved his pace with a 2.52, good enough for 3rd on the day. Second place went to last years National Champ Ewan Doherty with a 2.50 but the win went to the raiding party from Team Madison/Saracen’s Philip Atwill who took the win by 1.66 seconds with a time of 2.48.

Kyle Styling it for the camera’s

as for the craic and scandal, who left with a win but with a crushed helmet after leaving it UNDER the van on the way home, how amazing was the feeling when you nailed the open section fast on Saturday in the dust, yes DUST at an Irish Race! how sickening was it for the junior rider who got to the start for the race run only to find a slow puncture had him snookered. how crazy was Cam’s Hat on Sunday, think it properly scared some riders! how nice was it to leave the site on Saturday with all your gear still clean and good to go for Sunday,.

full results are here > http://crcidms.com/images/results/2013/2013iDMSRoundONE_CResults.pdf

the Next round of the IDMS is on in Rostrevor Co Down on the long weekend of May 4/5th on the new trail centre DH track which is Currently being Built which looks savage, Bring it on!!!