XC Season End

The final round of the Irish NPS series took place in Castlewellan last Sunday, held by Banbridge CC. The combination of one of the best XC race courses of the year and a warm, sunny day made for some great racing. Set in a forest park beside a lake, the trail had a couple of big fireroad climbs but after each of these there was the reward of long stretches of singletrack, combining great technical sections and fast, flowy parts.



Oisin Boydell and Cait Elliott represented UCD while other members of the club took part in a beginners mountain bike session in Wicklow. Oisin saw off some strong competition to win the Experts race by over 4 minutes meaning he is the overall series winner. Wearing the National Champion's jersey Cait won the Elite Ladies race, after an early battle with overall NPS winner Mel Spath. With all the results counted, Cait finished 2nd in the Series, a meer 5 points adrift.



Photos courtesy of Eric Blayney at Cycleseen.