Track and Trail will be teaming up with the guys from Dolmen Sports, who are organizing this fantastic challenge on the shores of the spectacular Lough Derg in Co. Clare.
The Mountain Bike Challenge, Lough Derg 2010 is your chance to explore and enjoy some of the finest off-road trails around Lough Derg and raise money for The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland (MS Ireland) while you’re doing it.
We’re headed to Killaloe for a weekend of outdoors, forest, mountains and bikes. The Mountain Bike Challenge is for casual and competitive cyclists alike. We’re very excited about it and we want YOU to come with us.
Just some photos from Kippure Estate XC Summer Series Round 4. These development races were a great success and this is down to the competitors who made it worth while and we will hope to build on these races next year. A big thank you to the I.M.B.R.C. MTB club, CYCLE INN and all the staff at Kippure Estate who made these events possible.
If anyone has anymore photos of these races, if they could email them to me info@trackandtrail.ie that would be great.
Just a quick one for those who might have missed a recent program shown on RTE called “Tracks and Trails”, in RTE’s own words..
“Tracks and Trails is a new series about walking in Ireland. The programmes will feature spectacular walks and cycle tracks in stunning locations all over the country. The programmes will be presented by a different personality each week.”
The most recent episode sees TV presenter Aidan Power and Hot House Flowers musician Fiachna O’ Bhraonain team up to go off the beaten track on a first-time mountain bike trail on a grade A trek on the Ballyhoura Mountains in Limerick by the Cork and Tipperary borders. Aidan and Fiachna also discover the beauty of the Glen of Aherlow as they undertake a 40k section of the Ballyhoura Way by foot, crossing the Tipperary border to the spectacular scenery at the base of the Galtee Mountains.
Ballyhoura is a fantastic amenity and a great location for mountain bikers of all levels, more information on Ballyhoura and other MTB trails here in Ireland can be see here in our trail guides section.
If you and your friends would like to have a fun day out mountain biking at Ballyhoura why not contact us and we can provide everything from guiding right the way through to Bikes / Helmets and pads. With the combination of our experienced guides and our brand new fleet of Lapierre mountain bikes you can be assured you’ll learn loads in a fun and safe environment.
The weekend just past saw the 3rd race of the Kippure Estate / IMBRC Mountain Bike Development Summer race series. Wow that sounds like a huge mouth full but what it is a bunch of event to give those who are only new to MTB a chance to bike in a new location / meet some new friends / take part in a no pressure race and all in a safe an fun environment.
The event saw a good turn out in numbers ranging from those who have just taken the stabilizers off right through to those that have many miles under their saddles and included lots of first timers.
There was a great set up on the day starting with the IMBRC guys handling all the registration work like pros getting everyone sorted & numbered up in no time at all. Also having a coffee shop and some music at the start / finish kept the spectators entertained and gave the riders some much needed encouragement as they made their laps.
For those who have never been to the ~3km looped course at Kippure we caught up with Gar from IMBRC who gave a nice out line of what the riders could expect (map below).
The racing was thigh throughout the whole day but there was still a great atmosphere amongst everyone who took part and the smiles were to be seen all round the track.
In all it was a savage event every one was saying they are already looking forward to the next (and finial) race of the series which takes place on the 22nd of August. For more information on these events you can check out Kippure Estate’s web site HERE and Irish Mountain Bike Racing Club (IMBRC) site HERE.
There are also loads of photos from the day on the IMBRC facebook page HERE. It’s events like this that ensures Mountain Biking is one of the worlds fastest growing sports.
We can’t wait until the next one and hope to see you there.
Just a quick update regarding stage 2 in “Kippure Estate XC MTB Development Race Series” which takes place on 25th of July. The series of races are planned to run during the summer to help introduce people into the competitive side of X Country Mountain Bike Racing. Stage 2 had a great turn out of competitors and spectators as they soaked up the wicklow sunshine while staff at Kippure Estate where at hand with plenty of food and beverages.
It was good to see the Ballyfermot Youth Service committed to the race series as they have some talented young bike riders in the event which we hope to see in the future. Overall the race series have been a success and hope to see everyone back at the next event on the 25th July which may see the course changed to keep things a bit more interesting.
To stick with all things MTB related we were along to the the “Kippure Estate XC MTB Development Race Series” late last month, it was one of the first in a bunch of events planned to run during the summer to help introduce people into the competitive side of X Country Mountain Bike Racing.
All in all it was a savage day out and fair play to all those who made this event happen, if this day out is anything to go by were are in for a great summer of events.
That’s all from us from us for now but stay tuned more information on the rest of out activities and exciting new development with a new Mountain Biking Skills course in Wicklow only 20mins form Dublin City.
'Had a great time on the Ergo outing. Interesting challenges and great to do some orienteering once again. The bad weather might have dampened our gear but not our moods. It was a great day out!'
John Corkery
www.ergogroup.ie
