2011 Irish MTB Marathon National Championships

It was 12 months since I was in Ballyhoura where I successfully defended my MTB Marathon National Title – this year it was a slightly different (better) course that covered much of the trail center style trails as well as a few new additions.

The course had several fireroad climbs as well as some technical climbs and trail center style climbs but the major feature was the kilometers of flowing fast singletrack. The trail center has been completed for several years now but recent changes have made some of the trails a lot nicer to ride – more flow and some jumps. The other really nice thing about the race was that it was 100% off road – at no point did we touch tarmac or a public road. We used fireroads (and some single-track) for the climbing and all the descents were technical and fast.

The race started with a 3.5 kilometer fireroad climb before entering the first of many singletrack sections. We started pretty fast with some less experienced riders sprinting off like the race was a kilometer long – about two minutes later their legs blew, Niall Davis (recently crowned single-speed World Champion – ran in the same venue), Ray O'Shaughnessy and I created the lead group. We rode together for most of the first half of the race with each of us leading our group at various times. About 20 kilometers in I unfortunately punctured my rear wheel – I rode carefully until I got to the fireroad and fixed it before starting the chase. About midway through the race I caught and passed Ray while I caught Niall a little later.

Picture from here

When we hit the penultimate long climb, I increased my pace and Niall dropped off. The rest of the day was plain sailing as I rode pretty hard on the climbs and took my time to enjoy the singletrack descents which with the pouring rain where turning extremely slippy. After just over 3 hours I finished the 65 kilometer race and retained my National title by 16 minutes over 2nd place. 21Kmph for a 100% off-road race in the rain, I was happy with that.

A few people I would like to thank – firstly Cycleways/Specialized (and the mechanics!) and Shane Connaughton for sorting me (and Mel) out with the best MTB bike out there – the Specialized S-Works Epic – I have been riding those bikes a for a few years now and every time I get back onto it I feel like I'm cheating versus everyone else (seriously, go out and try one)! Having spent so little time on the mountain bike this year, it really did allow me to get away with minor mistakes on the technical terrain. ZipVit for covering all Mel and my nutritional needs during the season both on and off-road and my buddy Alan for driving down and back and supporting me during the day – many thanks!

National Champion

The venue is perfect for MTB racing, especially marathon racing and the club that ran the event (their first event), ran it to a world class standard (as good as anything I have raced on the continent). Ireland will host the 2014 MTB Marathon European Championships in the area and this was a great dry (errr, wet) run for the event. Thanks guys.

Results are up here. I'll add in other reports when they go up.

2011 Lakeland Warrier 100km MTB Marathon

It was Sunday morning – so the final day of our three day, three race, three discipline weekend. Today it was the Lakeland Warrior 100km MTB Marathon.

I had not raced an MTB Marathon since I won the National Championships last September, indeed, I had not spent more that 2.5 hours on an MTB since then but I did look forward to the race - I really love racing MTB marathons - my major problem with XC racing is that it is continually becoming shorter and shorter races around shorter and shorter tracks - not my style... not real mountain biking. Unlike most Irish off-road marathons, this one was not going to be 50% filled with slow technical riding, it was basically all fireroads and gravel roads. It may not have had much singletrack, but it was still tricky navigating around loose rocky corners at 50kmph!

We arrived at the race venue with typical Irish summers weather – sun, rain, wind, cloud... all in equal portions but for random durations making kit choice difficult (I wore a base layer, two jerseys and a gilet). At 100km (and I was guessing around 4 hrs) – I didn't want to push the pace at the start and was happy to follow others for the first while. After about 15 kilometers, there was 4 of us in the front group and we rode a good steady tempo as a group. At the midway point, the organizers had setup the feed station at a stunning viewpoint over Lower Lough Erne – the sun was out, the wind still and you could see the rolling hills around the lake for miles. I took my time at the transition to really take in the view and wished I took my camera with me.

We continued riding as a group until we had raced 65km when I turned on the pressure on a gravelly climb – I got a gap and simply rode tempo to the finish taking it easy on some of the mud iced farm lanes. I won in 4 hours, with an average speed for 25.4kmph – 101.8km, 1,800m of climb.

The race was a great event, different from most other Irish marathons – the race was tough in that it was long and there was seldom a flat section of road. Thanks to the organizers, 26extreme, for putting on the race – both Mel and I got a lot from it.

2011 Irish National XC Championships

At the start of the season I had not really planned to be in the country for the National XC Championships, but as plans changed – so did my attendance. With only a few outings on the mountain bike in recent months (but a fun win on a great course a couple of weeks earlier), I found myself preriding the National Championships course in Kilruddery.

The course was basically 90% twisty forested singletrack – there were a few short climbs and a few technical sections but the guts of the course was easily ridable – the faster you go, the more difficult it gets. As it was, being really efficient and smooth on the bike, rather than absolute power or speed was the most important aspect of racing this course fast – me, coming back from racing on the road, was almost opposite of what suited me. There wasn't really anywhere where I could really dig in and put in long hard efforts. Having said that, the course was really fun to ride.

Race day arrived and I got a great warmup in only to find the start was going to be delayed for 30 minutes. In an earlier race, a rider hurt themseleves badly on a feature known as “Tombstone” (basically, a big rock drop – easy to ride but the sheer hight meant that it was much more about your mental abilities rather than skill or bike handling – roll into it not committed and bad things could happen). The ambulance had to take the person to hospital so we had to wait until it returned – these things happen... (oh, the rider is fine)

Garreth McKee and myself (from Andrew Lowry)

The start was frantic – on the final bend into the singletrack Aidan McDonald and I got tangled and unfortunately he fell – that really threw me off my game for a while as Aidan is a fantastic rider and I don't like seeing anything negative happen to him at the start of a race.

Anyway, my little time on the mountain bike was apparent for the first couple of laps – I was riding around in 5^th place but 3^rd was only a little further ahead. I knew, come the end of the race that I could make up the time.

As the race went by, I got more used to the singletrack and finished off with my last lap being the fastest of my race. I caught and passed Joe McCall towards the end of the last lap and finished in 3^rd.

Robin Seymour won his billionth championship going from the gun and really showing that on that type of course, there is no one in Ireland that can come close. Peter Buggle finished 2^nd.

Picture by Ciaran Maunsell

Am I happy with the race – well, yes and no... I'm fit and strong at the moment but that type of course really didn't suit me – so 3^rd place I'm reasonably happy with. I had a fun day and the event was ran off perfectly. My only gripe is that there has been almost no publicity about it – many people (outside of the MTB community) have been asking me if it has taken place yet – and these are cyclist. Guys, you ran an amazing event – tell the world about it!

Many thanks for Stewart Carr on the day for helping out with some logistics and a massage, Angela Oakley for feed support and to my MTB sponsors, especially Cycleways, ZipVit.

2011 Ulster XC Round 5

I raced in Dunnore once before. Two years ago it was the venue for the National Cross Country Championships – I competed seven weeks after an operation on my broken collerbone and finished second to rising Irish star, Conor McConvey. My memories of the course was that it was brutally tough (in a physical sort of way) and left me tired for days.

I have not rode my mountain bike much this year – six or seven times total before this race. Originally, I thought I would be out of the country for the cross country nationals but as some things didn't pan out, and there was a natural break in my road season, I felt a bit of MTBing would be great for me mentally and physically. With all that, I decided that I had better ride a race before Nationals which is how I found Mel and I driving up north to this race on a fine Irish Summers day (that isn't actually sarcasm – it was actually a beautiful day).

Heavy legs greeted me for my practice lap around the course – it was the fifth day of training in a row (although the previous day was an easy 4 hours on the TT bike) but by the time I recced the lap, my legs had come around a little. The course had some rolling flat singletrack/double track but it's main feature was two steep climbs – the first about 90 seconds long, the second, about three minutes – they were walls! But good fun to climb and even more fun hurling yourself back down the recently acquired elevation.

The startlist for the race was small but contained a strong selection of the top Irish racers – a stronger field than I expected for what was a regional race – excellent!

Cool pic from the start - trying to find where I found it - comment if it is yours and I'll add the link!

The race started fast as expected – I stayed third wheel until we hit the first climb, there I climbed into second behind a flying Matt Adair, on the next climb, I passed Matt and took the lead. That was basically it for the race. Ray O'Shaughnessy would be close enough (I would drop him on the climbs/flats, he would catch on on the descents – I was there to practice my techy riding more than anything) and Gareth McKee wasn't far behind. I rode tempo for the first 5 laps and decided I would up my pace for the last lap. When the bell lap sounded I upped my pace on my chasers – by the midpoint of the lap, I had gained around 90 seconds (the course was great – you could see the other riders really well) so I eased off again (I was racing a road race the following day) and finished back safely to take the win.

Thanks Dromara Cycling Club for running a great race on a tough course – I enjoyed that!

Results and photos etc... can be found here.

2010 Irish National Marathon Championships

The final goal of the year before some well deserved rest and relaxation (and a chance for my various scars to get the energy they need to heal up properly) had arrived. After not being run in 2009, 2010 marked the return of the Irish National Marathon Championships. I won this title in 2008 and was very much motivated to retain the title.

MBCC (Mountain Biking Club Cork) where the club responsible for running the event – they were holding it in Ireland's largest trail center – Ballyhoura, but they promised much more than trail center riding – and in that, they delivered.

My leadup to the race was good – after our wedding, I rode a few big weeks and then tapered off for the championship itself. The week before, I took part in the Leinster Road Race Championships, motivated to win but had one of the worst sets of legs of the year for the first hour – the decisive hour. After an easy week, it takes a hard session to get my legs going for racing fast and with the Hill Climb Race that was supposed to be ran by Swords CC the day before, being cancelled at the last minute – my 'opener' session was gone. However, a massage by Stewart Carr on Monday had my legs feeling good again. Other than the disaster of a road race, things were going to plan and I felt strong.



The course was going to cover around 63km with 1,500m of climb. The course contained long fireroad climbs, long technical climbs, steep descents, ruts of death, forested singletrack and about 70% (I'm guessing) of the purpose built Ballyhoura singletrack. A challenging course and one that I felt suited me well.

Female winner, Cait Elliot

The race started up a 5km fireroad climb – initially I had Evan Ryan and Dave O'Neil for company, but by the top, I had moved off. I rode the climbs at a good tempo, the trail center stuff as fast as I dared and took it really easy on the technical rocky descents. I was in the lead and paranoid about puncturing on the very pointy rocks so I took my time descending. I had a lot in reserve and felt I could drill it on a few of the longs climbs towards the end if needed.


With a little over an hour of racing to go I came to a dead end on a section (the only section I think) that we doubled back on. There were no signs – and I cursed, very loudly, and with much anguish. I had been VERY diligent watching for course marking and felt that the course had been really really well marked. I remembered seeing a sign 1km back that pointed right(ish) but was clearly taped off. I rode back, met Anthony White (fellow KCNC endurance rider) and we rode back to the junction where I stopped as he was sure he was still right. We faffed around some more (I spent 10 minutes up there faffing!) until basically the first 10 riders were together. We decided that the taped off section must be wrong and followed where the arrows pointed. Very shortly afterwards, a moto rider confirmed we were now correct and apologized profusely for not having had the tape removed in time. I was kinda pissed – I had worked hard enough to make sure I had a good lead in case any mechanicals occurred and with 1 hour of racing to go, it was all back to the start. Motivated, I hammered off.


The rest of the race was thankfully uneventful. The course was really nice and the singletrack a lot of fun to ride in the dry. I had been riding down here on my hardtail training bike a few weeks earlier and by the end of the session I could hardly move as my body was that beaten up. Today, on the full suspension Epic – I felt great. It ate up the course, smoothed out the rough sections and allowed me to really enjoy the course. I finished without the obligatory sore back that is usually associated with trail center type riding.

3 hours 20 (or so) after starting, I finished off my 2010 season crossing the finish line to win my second Marathon Championship and my second National Championship of the season. I think I may be the first Elite to claim both a MTB and road national championship in the same year :)

Other than that one glitch which effected the front 10, the race was very well ran, on a really great course – certainly the best marathon course I have raced on in Ireland. The prizes were sponsored by VANS and went down really well :)

Thanks for all the support along the way in the race, before, during and afterwards. And another special thanks to Alan for coming down with me for the weekend and supporting me at the feed zones and lugging my spare wheels around. It is great to be able to concentrate on the cycling and know that everything else is being taken care of. In addition to my ZipVit Recovery drink when I finished, he even had a Coke waiting for me – how PRO is that? :)

Results are up here and I'll add in more photos from the race as I find them.

For those always asking - my nutrition for the 11:30am marathon was:
8:30am
LARGE bowl of oats with raisins, cinnamon, a banana, muesli and soy milk. Some orange juice and a large mug of coffee.
9:30am
ZipVit Energy Bar
11:00am
500ml ZipVit Energy Drink as I warmed up and one ZipVit Gel
During the race:
4 ZipVit Gels (one caffeine, an hour from the finish)
4 x 500ml of ZipVit Energy Drink

2010 Ulster XC Championships

As usual, as the end of the season approaches there is an extreme lack of races, both on the MTB and on the road. Fortunately, Banbridge Cycling Club were hosting the final round of the Ulster XC series in Tollymore Park – home to the 2007 National Championships. This round was also doubling as the Ulster XC Championships. Back in 2007 (my first year in Elite), I really enjoyed the course, there were a few big climbs and then kilometers of testing, forested singletrack. The course changed a lot for 2010, much less climbing, but still lots of singletrack.

The course had been riding very well in the days leading up to the race (so I was told) but on the Firday and Saturday before hand – mother nature dealt the course a hammering of the aquatic kind. What were dusty dry trails were now slick trails with a side helping of slippery roots.

When we arrived at the race venue, Mel and I both rolled around for a preride. I could see how cool the trails would be in the dry (or even in the damp), but with the heavy rain – I didn't really get into the flow. I got back to the car and wasn't really motivated.

A reasonably strong Elite field had entered and as we toed the line, I didn't really know how to play it. Go full gas, or just ride and have some fun. The whistle went and we sped off. After some jostling, the front 3 (myself, Ray and Aidan) settled into the race. As I mentioned, I wasn't too keen on the trails in my preride – but as is often the case, in the race situation, they rode really well – other than a bombhole section (well, you go up and down banks a bunch of times) that was really cut up – the rest was great fun. Indeed, days afterwards as I was looking back on the race as being really great fun and wanting to do it again. Me, I would have more climbing and try to open up a few sections, but it was a great fun course.

Mr. & Mrs. after the race :)

Midway through the second lap I went to the front and increased my pace a little on the climbs. From there I just rode a steady tempo for the next few laps – on the last lap, I put in a little more effort on the climbs to get a slightly bigger gap and rolled in for first. Aidan McDonald was second and Ray O'Shaughessy third. Mel won her race too – the interesting thing being that the top 3 in the Elite Men, and top Elite Woman were all riding Specialized Epics – talk about domination :)

There is a report and link to more photos and a video here.

2010 European Marathon Championships

It has been a year since my last marathon race. Mountain bike marathons tend to be one of the toughest races out there with race times between 4 and 6 hours with little or no respite.

The Garmin 705 was a life saver on this trip

I had heard some good things about the course for the 2010 European Championships (the 2011 World Championships will be held there too). There were 17 categorized climbs and it seemed pretty much all of them were steep. What goes up, must come down and there was a lot of singletrack descending. The descents, in the dry conditions where not technical but riding them at 35+kmph for the first time, the margin for error drops dramatically.

Waiting to start

The race started with 110+ riders on a hot morning in Montebelluna, Italy. From the gun, the start was super fast as we hit the first major climb, and the only tarmac one. At that point the race already started to break up and I found myself in a group a few too many groups back. I was riding the descents very well and was able to bridge groups but after about 35km, the groups settled into what it would be for the day. The middle section of the race had lots of parts where group riding was imperative, a lone effort trying to bridge was doomed. As the kilometers ticked by I started to feel a little better (I suffered all day, but felt physically sick for the first few hours) and over time dropped the rest of my group and started picking off other riders ahead.

Postcard perfect views

After 130 very tough off road kilometers, and 5 hours 40 minutes saddle time I raced over the line for 43rd. The second half of my race went well but I really should have been in the lead group of 30 over the first couple of mountains - something to work on and get right for the World Championships later in the year in Germany.

I took the follow video a couple of minutes after finishing the race.

My friend Alan accompanied me (took the video/pics you see) for the race to provide support - it was vital and everything surrounding the race went like clockwork. Thanks Alan!

Alan also has a few pictures up here.

Oh, and this is what I ate/drank during the race:
25 minutes before the start - 1 ZipVit Caffeine Gel

During the race
6 ZipVit Gels
1 ZipVit Caffeine Gel
7 750ml bottles of ZipVit Energy
2 500ml bottles of water