Gravity Enduro round 1 Ballinastoe Race Report

The 2014 Gravity Enduro season hosted by Biking.ie blasted off in Ballinastoe Co, Wicklow over the weekend where 350 gravity-hungry riders battled it out for the top-step and coveted series points.

Adding to a mix of the fastest, flowiest and most fun sections of the Coillte trails, several brand new stage sections linked the course together, and it was evident that Biking.ie pulled out all the stops with the trail building to ensure that your legs and lungs were praying for the hard-pack heaven of the Coillte-made trails. The weather was also on rider's sides – a bone dry week effectively mopped out all the slop on the tracks and made for high speed, dusty riding.

Riders set off from the race village on the Sunday armed with their new timing chip system; which did away with having to tag in and out of stages to start and end your time. As always, the race pits were set up to resemble a scene from Sea otter – with Bespoke Cycles, Maxxis tyres and Last Lap cafe etc on hand to look after the racers. The total course length was approximately 28km. Taking cues from some of the more high-profile European enduro races, stage 4 was closed to riders on Saturday meaning that it had to be raced blind – leading to a fair few 'through the tape' faux pas.

After completing the course, the times were in and the fast lads and ladies made their way to the podium.

In the 14-18 category, Conor Lavelle took top spot with a time of 21:04.31, a fitting result given the amount of hard work that he put in to make the stages as good as they were. All the way from Co. Cork, Robb Hales came in 2nd and Scott Wallace placed 3rd. Having had a huge crash on stage 5 - I placed in 6th less than one second off the podium.


Up next were the 19-29 category where Howie Millar took first place with a time of 22:44.43, again well deserved with all the work he did on the tracks. Nordies, Linday Watson and Mark Lennon made the trip down to take 2nd and 3rd place respectively.

Following them came the 30-34 year olds where Alan Mellon placed first with a time of 22:04.37. In second place came Simon Lennon and Luke Ireland in 3rd.

In the 35-39 category Ian Coates came 1st with a time of 21:42.32. Close behind was Damian Mulchrone in 2nd , and Rampage man/general MTB hero Glyn O'Brien placed in 3rd.

After that came the 40-49 year olds where Joules Dormer placed in 1st. Darragh Smith placed in 2nd and Peter Durbridge placed in 3rd.


In the Women's category, an on fire Leah Maunsell took 1st place with a time of 26:46.79. Shona D'Arcy placed in 2nd and Team Bespoke Cycles rider Silvia Gallagher came in close 3rd.

Next up were the Pro men where a flat-out Gavin Carroll took top spot and fastest time of the day with a time of 20:59.34. 2nd place went to Pearse Griffin, and 3rd to Peter Boaden.

Thanks to Biking.ie for a fantastic race and see you all next month for round 2 in Ticknock, Co. Dublin.