The third round of the NPS was held in Lady Nixon park on Sunday, the weather was great and there was a huge turn out and fantastic to see a great ladies turn out as well. There were 11 ladies racing in Sports and 3 in the Elites. The course was around a park and while not very technical was very enjoyable and particularly suited for the sports rider. XMTB put on a great race, really well organised and a big thank you to everyone involved including the every present voice of Irish Mountain biking, Richie Byrne.
There was a great battle for the ladies sports but Gill Smith came in first followed very quickly by Agata Tamulewicz of MAD and Julie Rea of Shain Reaction Cycles.
The elites ladies were tight as well with Ciara MacManus winning ahead of Val O’Neill and Shona D’Arcy got third place.
The elites ladies were tight as well with Ciara MacManus winning ahead of Val O’Neill and Shona D’Arcy got third place.
On a personal note, anyone who’s considering racing theses races and is a bit concerned come out on my Wednesday night ladies spins and see how you get on!
well done everyone who raced
Shona
Photos here
I think it may be beneficial to introduce a womans category between Elite and Sports now. I know a few girls would like to give racing a go, but don’t want to enter sports as they feel it is too competitive. Also, as the top sports girls get better, they may not want to bother entering/travelling for a race of only 1hour, but feel the Elite is just too much of a jump. Maybe something to consider for next year to help the increase in numbers of woman participating continue?
That would be an Expert category – unfortunately womens mtb has never had enough numbers to warrant an extra category between sports and elite – it is quite a jump between categories though (an extra 50% racing time) so if there was enough people who wanted it there’s certainly an argument for having it. I guess it’s something that should be brought to the mtb commissions attention, and possibly at the agm, if they feel there’s a need I’m sure they’ll be happy to include it.
Yeah that is a good idea. The Scottish XC races would be a good comparison. They have 8/10 categories for woman, with some only having 1 or 2 participants. Think they seem to work it that you sign on in your category (vet/master/elite/etc) and then the woman do 1 lap less than the men. Seems a fair system, as you don’t get someone who has maybe just started mtbing, competing against someone who already does a lot of training or other sports.
the scottish system sounds really good, keeps everything simple and straightforward and allows for women to ride in all categorys. I wonder do they let the women start with the men in their category, if the numbers are small that would seem a good idea,keep the race interesting as they can race against the men then while still having their own cat.