Hellacious Weekend of Racing
MAD will have two entries in the Outsider Annacurragh Bike Adventure this Saturday. Nigel and Paul will be formidable contenders while our own Team Lurve (Melanie and Ryan) are going to cause mayhem in the mixed category. Good luck to everyone and don't wear yourselves out because:
On Sunday it's the penultimate (that's second last to you) round of the 2006 NPS. We're heading back to Castlewellan, last visited in April, where XMTB are running a UCI C2 (fancy!) event. The course has changed slightly since the last race so it should be interesting. Let us know if you're coming so we can bring the necessary deckchairs. As usual - contact Sean to arrange lifts.
Race Details
Driving Directions
Course Map
On Sunday it's the penultimate (that's second last to you) round of the 2006 NPS. We're heading back to Castlewellan, last visited in April, where XMTB are running a UCI C2 (fancy!) event. The course has changed slightly since the last race so it should be interesting. Let us know if you're coming so we can bring the necessary deckchairs. As usual - contact Sean to arrange lifts.
Race Details
Driving Directions
Course Map
Labels: events
posted by Morgan @ 4:50 p.m.
19 Comments:
At 8:37 a.m.,
Fergal said…
I was thinking that the entry fee was a bit steep (22 euro) compared to most NPS's but one of the guys from XMTB explained:
"Sorry for the cost but this due to the fact that it is a C2 UCI event and the cost of prize money and international commissar is mad, it is costing the club about €4,000 to run the event. We also have to pay for the forest on behalf of all as they normally change £3 per car. this is included in the entry fee.
Hope you understand, nobody in the club is paid and we have spent hundreds of hours on the course."
By the way - what does C2 UCI event mean?
At 10:35 a.m.,
Paddy said…
C2 - Second category???? presumably not a world cup event or something like that.
UCI - French for international cycling association
At 5:32 p.m.,
Sean said…
What it really means is that if you place in the Elite race, you get world ranking points! :)
At 5:33 p.m.,
Paddy said…
And money! (if in the top 10 or something so keep an eye on how many enter it!)
At 8:59 a.m.,
Fergal said…
hmm...money eh? I like money.
Anyone know if there's money for Masters? - and if so, down to what position?
Might give it a shot if there's a decent incentive...then again, I'd probably do a practice lap and say "eek! 4 of those for Masters?...ahh... maybe next season"
At 10:12 a.m.,
Mark C said…
yeah 6 laps of that course will be deadly, literally, don't know if i'll manage 2, combination of beer, good eatin and lack of exercise are stackin the odds against me, ah sure we'll give it a lash, who all's racin??
At 3:28 p.m.,
Fergal said…
howdy Mark,
I'm racing for sure, the Stevie lad is mad to race after finally gettin' out of French prison, Paddy is away 'sampling foreign beers and ladies' this weekend fair play to him, pretty sure Morgan and Sean will be in action, as for the rest of the boys and girls, not too sure, but Geoff definitely needs to go to show off his new MAD colour-coordinated 661 gloves, they are the biz!
At 4:26 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
Wooooo Go racing, not fit but its all good:D Anybody reading this should definately travel down for this race. The course is brilliant, lovely and technical, yet rideable all the way round!!
Sports all the way me thinks, gonna do the juniors thing properly next year!
At 11:31 p.m.,
Ryan Sherlock said…
I'm really looking forward to it - the course is deadly! Hope my legs wont drop off tomorrow though. All this biking means that I'm a crap runner and the 8k tomorrow could kill me... See ya'll on Sunday!
At 4:59 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
sorry i mean i might do sports
At 5:59 p.m.,
Nigel said…
well after the race today my back is in bits. My legs are ok, but running is not my thing! excellent race though! hopefully all the people (like myself and paul) who couldn't find control point 7 won't be disqualified! :(
well done to ryan and mel - absolutely flying!!!
Tomorrow should be a cracker!
At 10:27 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
i might do sports left out a word shane
At 10:21 a.m.,
Fergal said…
A long spin to get to Castlewellan but we were rewarded with a really great course and sunny weather.
Big well done to all who raced especially the huge effort by Nigel Mel and Ryan who had literally TORTURED themselves adventure racing the previous day!
Don't know how they did it - these fit people huh?!
Myself and Steve got the first practice lap in at about 9:30am - yeah, we arrived a 'little' early - it was cool - no-one else around!
Official results yet to be posted, but as far as I remember, and please correct me if any of this is wrong- Steve got a 6th, Nigel was very close to Steve (position ??),
I got an 8th, Ryan had a great race just missing podium with a 4th, Mel won Sports ladies (Mel - you can give an account of your 'opposition'!) & finished strongly in overall Sports, Morgan narrowly eluded mechanical problems by punturing AFTER the finish line - nice timing Morgan!
Not so lucky was Geoff whose derailleur decided to mortally injure itself by snapping-off on the first lap -aagghhh! and he looked so good in those gloves!
Christian had a few nasty impacts (big AGGGHHHHHH!!!) that left him battered & bruised & bloody but still able to finish and keep smiling - that's the spirit Christian-unbreakable!
Sean was heroically trying to shake-off sickness during the week but it continued to plague him and he retired early (not that you'd think he wasn't well when you see video clip I have of him & Morgan hammering it along a singletrack section!), Shane had shaken-off any remaining ghosts of his crash and had a fun few laps with those big forks of his in Sports.
Nigel spent a long time getting tips on action photography from some pro camera guy, so expect to see some great camera work from him soon!
The Eurospar was the venue for sambos and chips before hitting the LONNNGGGG road home - man that traffic jam in Newry was a killer! Newry is no longer myself & Steve's most favourite northern town (as if it ever was....)
Final XC on this years calendar is IMBRCs hosting at Slade Valley, a venue we are all familiar with, but the IMBRC track-masters are shaping it up to be
a very different course to the Dash so all of MAD should put in a few weeks of intense training on the course to finish the season strongly and bag as many podium places as possible!
I'm sure Sean will devise some torturous training schedule over the coming weeks for MAD (he's nice like that!)
At 11:00 a.m.,
Nigel said…
really cool race....but wow that traffic on the way home was ridiculous!!! what the hell like??
At 11:48 a.m.,
Fergal said…
I know Nigel, it was like get every car within 100 miles to converge on the town centre! ...and don't give an inch to those southern feckers with their mountainbikes either!
I had to perform a bit of an 'advanced manoeuvre' (ahem) to jump into the Dublin lane which the car behind me didn't appreciate - the driver flashed me & the passenger opened his door as if to get out and 'have a word with me', lucky for him he decided not to...hee hee
At 11:58 a.m.,
Anonymous said…
race was great but traffic in newry then with the naas road on top of it was a disaster damm country people but myself richie felle and two other went in a bit of convoy throught newry but i will have to pick up me performance before nps 7 and sport getting stupid problems
At 1:35 p.m.,
Mark C said…
well done lads and lassies, fair play sound like a crackin day around wit alot of decent resulks thrown in, whilst you lot were off bein active and fit i was nursin my hang over wit a fry by me ma....the bike is still in bits in the kitchen, waitin on yeti to give me the good/bad news if my new shiny brakes will fit the bloody frame, hopin to get sorted this week and then i'll be back, let the puffin commence....
At 2:16 p.m.,
Mark C said…
and news just in, there was a security alert on the train line from Friday between Newry and Dundalk, the by-pass was closed as well, twas the real IRA apparently, so theres the reason for the delays.....Newry is crap for drivin through, reminded me of the old days when there was none of this fancy motorway and bypass stuff....
At 3:06 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
full result of the nps is on irishcycling.com
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