On Friday last some of us made the trip up to Croagh Patrick to ride it on our bicycles.  After a few nightcaps in the pub we crawled into whatever space we had made for ourselves in between bikes and bags in the back of the van for what felt like 5minutes of sleep. . We started off up the long climb at 5 bells and to my surprise met people already on the hill. . . A nice lady out for a quite stroll, a legend who almost made it down by foot as quick as we did on bikes, 3 lunatics aiming to get up and down the hill 9 times in 24hrs, plus a number of tents, nice a place as any for a spot of camping i suppose.

We got back to the bottom, after a few gnarly incidents and a few busted parts, then we headed for derroura and did a lap there, which was… fun!

All in all, it was a great weekends riding, all wrapped up into 7 hours on a fine Saturday morning. Here’s a video Gregoreous Callaghan made.

Congratulations to Luke Cornforth on board his Solid Mission 7 finished in a fantastic 3rd place in the Juvenile category at Round 1 of the British NPS in Rheola!

021racings Cameron Cornforth finished a creditable 13th on his Solid Mission 9, not bad for his first year in  the Youth category. Kipper came down just ahead of Cam finishing up in 12th. Dan Sheridan had a great result finishing in 3rd spot in Youth!

021racings Greg O’ Keeffe on board his new Norco DH Team, Supplied by Irelands number one Norco dealer Moycullen Bike Works and with OCTuning looking after his FOX shocks, finished in a fine 16th place in the Expert category, just 6 secconds off the podium and the second fastest Irish rider behind Ben Reid! Hes happy with his progess returning from injury. Rob Davis didnt have the best weekend, finishing 36th in Expert on his Solid Mission 9 supplied by OCTuning. Gavin Carroll finished in 9th spot in Junior. Flow Racings Damo Duggan finished up in 20th Master

Big thanks, as always, goes out to OCTuning for traveling over to support us all and make sure the bouncy stuff stayed just the right amount of bouncy.

Well done to the lads, they should be flying in Kerry next week!

You can check out full results here on the Results page & you can find some pictures, videos and other goodys  aswell as keep an eye on coming events on the Brittish Downhill Series website here

Round 2 of the Irish National Downhill Points Series, took place at Irelands most southern venue, Clashnacrona Woods, Dunmanway in Co. Cork. The race was organised by 021racing.

After much speculation on what course was going to be used, the organisers opted for the older NPS track with a few nice new additions, to keep everyone on their toes.

With this being the start of summer and a long weekend, riders travelled from all over the country and from Wales to take part in what promised to be a great event, it was great to see the lads making the trip across the Irish Sea!

The weather did its best to make sure no one got to dirty and for the second race in a row stayed sunny and dry for practice and race day, which makes racing so much more enjoyable and creates a great atmosphere.

Talking of creating an atmosphere, 021racing’s Rob Davis took on the responsibility of being commentator for the race, after a slow start and six cans of Carling later, Rob was giving it loads and did a great job keeping the spectators and riders entertained!

The U14s got the racing started and it was the Cornforth brothers riding for 021racing who took the top two spots, Cameron taking 1st, closely followed by luke on his hardtail! Angus Fyffe rounded off the podium in 3rd.

The U16s was won by Christopher Mc Glinchey from CRC, 2nd place went to Trailriders.ie’s Eoin Grant, and 3rd to Paul Smith

The Juniors was won by Davy Graham from Biketart, followed by Greg Callaghan, both lads will be representing Ireland at the European Championships in Slovenia next month. 3rd place went to the ever improving Gavin Carroll.

The ladies was won by Natalie Jedda with CRCs Michelle McMullan in 2nd.

In the Vets Steven Graham took the win with Carl Young very close behind and Joe Jackman taking 3rd spot.

The Super Vets was won by Flow Racings Tom Sheridan with CRCs Derek Cowan in 2nd.

The Masters was dominated by CRCs Micheal Cowan, with Mark Tiernan and Dale McMullan taking 2nd & 3rd respectively.

The Senior Category was won by Ed Smith, Conor Duffy taking 2nd and 021racings Sean Murphy rounded off the podium in 3rd.

Fastest man on the day was Flow Racings Ger Wolfe taking the Elite win ahead of OC Tunings Ewan Doherty and Dan Wolfe did well in 3rd after snapping his chain on the start line.

Once the racing was over the after party kicked off in Skibbereen and went on well into Monday morning and a few stragglers in Audi estates were spotted only leaving West Cork at 3pm on the Monday, no doubt with a few sore heads!

Results are available from NACC’s results archive HERE

Thanks to Ebor for the photos.

Next up is Round 3 in the very popular Rostrevor in Northern Ireland on the 23 & 24th of May, see you all there.

Round 2 of the Irish NPS will be held at Clashnacrona Woods just outside Dunmanway in Co. Cork on the weekend of the 2nd & 3rd of May.

As usual with an 021 event we will have catering, live timing and uplifts.

Timing will be provided by NACC.

Redbull will also be on board for the event bringing the arch, the truck, the wigwam, the lovely ladies and of course free redbull…

There will be toilet facilities available

Uplifts

Uplifts will be running on both the Saturday and Sunday. No race number = no uplift.  Riding the course without a number over the course of the event will jeopardise the event since you are not covered under the events insurance or medical support.

Venue Considerations

021racing would like to remind all riders and spectators that the race is on Coillte land. Downhill racing relies heavily on the kind support of Coillte for race venues and it is important that the positive relationship that has been built up by 021racing is not jeopardised by leaving litter in the forest or causing tension with locals through inconsiderate behaviour. You are also reminded that mini bikes and the like are not permitted under any circumstances.

Parking is at a premium so please park your vehicles sensibly.

Directions

Link to location – Click HERE

Entry Fees and Categories
Entry fees
Elites/Seniors/Masters/ Vets/Super Vets/Sports/Ladies – €50
Juniors/U16/U14 – €30

Guidance on age categories –
Elite/Senior/Sports (aged 18+) Masters (30+ in current year) Vets (40+) Super Vets (50+)

Race licence (day) €15 or £15 (price set by Cycling Ireland)
If you intend to race regularly consider an annual licence – it can work out cheaper, particularly for younger riders. The licence fees are available on the Cycling Ireland website.

Schedule
Saturday
Sign on 9.30 – 15.00
Practice 10.00 – 16.00
Sunday
Sign on 9.00-10.00
Practice 9.30-11.30
Race 12.00 onwards
Podiums 16.00