Race Report: BikingBlitz 2020 - Round 2 Ballyhoura

Time flies and just like that, 2 weeks passed and the second race of the BikingBlitz series happened last weekend at Ballyhoura Trail Center in Limerick. The weather as usual in Ireland was cloudy and wet, but no storm on the horizon so this time the smaller categories had the opportunity to show their skills. Fear not, the force is strong with those kiddos, their concentration face and willingness to finish without the help of an adult make them even more worthy of their medals. All the way from under six years old up to under 16, all had the opportunity to race. The U16 category was the only one to do a full green loop.

One hour after the youngest finished, time for the adults to prove themselves. The baggy short category did the Brown Loop, 16km +505m -510m and SuperPro category completed the White Loop, 34km +852m -849m. In the Baggy category, Noel Harrington took the win on a close battle with Piotr Rutecki closely followed by Tomas Novak. It was on the second climb where things started to clear, around 2km on pure singletrack. Once on the descent, it was hard to overtake other riders, as happened on the SuperPro categories, there was little to no opportunities to overtake.

The SuperPro category as usual with some faces from the enduro scene, warming up for the incoming start of the season. The Garrane loop is a true leg killer, constant up and downs with few opportunities to pass another rider. Since the starting sprint, Garreth Davis and Gavin Carroll pushed hard and opened a big gap with the other riders, as big as almost 6min in the end. There was no rain during the race, but trails where completely wet and muddy son some sections, enough to make things even harder for everyone. With a final sprint, just 50m from the finish Garreth won a race that was continuously changing the leader. Howie Miller joined the two on the podium followed very closely by just 1s by Ben Breach and Richie Lenehan.

Next stop, March 8 in Derroura trails, Galway. See you there!
















The battle for the first place was fierce. Garreth Davis and Gavin Carroll fought till the last climb for the podium, with Garreth winning a last crucial climbing sprint.

All the podiums

Results

Full Results

---