.
I'd been to Derroura once before, this time last year in fact when I had a crack at the baggy shorts race. I'd had a tough time on the climb back then and spent a lot of time looking round at the jaw dropping scenery instead of going as hard as I could. Still, the memories of that scenery was enough incentive to get me out of my bed on a Sunday morning, throw the bike onto the back of the truck and hit the road westward to the gateway to Connemara.
Two and a half hours later and I was pitching up outside the carpark of the Derroura trailcentre, on a somewhat overcast and cool but dry morning ready to tackle the hill and hopefully get some good shots of the competition over the next couple of hours or so.
I was shooting solo this time and had originally intended to try to get some beauty shots overlooking Lough Corrib and then a couple of close ups in the forest but it wasn't to be. The climb was worse than I'd remembered it from last year - mind you, I did have warmer clothing and a bag of cameras, lenses, etc with me this time round (this is my story, I'm sticking to it! personal fitness has no bearing on this matter whatsoever!! :-p). Add to this that I was again afflicted with rubber neck syndrome checking out the stunning views at nearly every turn, so having taken an hour to get to nearly 2/3 distance around the course and with the Superpro riders now hot on my heels, it was inevitable that I'd struggle to catch the riders for a second shot given the geography of the track.
Derroura is definitely a different flavour of trail centre to those we experience on the East Coast, there's a lot of boardwalk here for instance, thankfully, it was dry and insofar as it can be, grippy. The exposed rock also, presumably weathered more extensively by the prevailing Atlantic winds seems a lot more polished and smooth than the abrasive nature of the rock on the hills round Dublin & Wicklow and tends to grab the attention a little more. That said, the trails were in excellent order, with plenty of fresh gravel laid where required and the reeds at trailside trimmed back nicely - Kudos to the trail maintenance team!
I settled myself then after a bit of humming and hawing into a spot where I could see the riders approach me from a distance on the trail and grab a bit of the stupendous Lough Corrib to use in the background and fired away, getting a few shots of most riders as they passed me. Luckily, the weather had been kind and I even managed a couple of shots with some blue sky in them for a change and given the open nature of the landscape of the trail centre, got to leave my flashgun in the bag to boot.
So happy enough with the pictures I'd taken I set off on the trail back to the finish line. I enjoyed this course last year and despite being dressed inappropriately and surely exceeding the safe weight loading of my bike and tyres, had a hoot on the descent. I was overtaken at one point by the third placed women's superpro riders and had to do a bit of inventive riding (cheating!) to get another shot of her before the finish.
Which brings me neatly to the results:
SuperPro Male
Steve Franzoni
Stephen Pollock
Bryan Joyce
Stephen Pollock
Bryan Joyce
Superpro Female
Michelle Muldoon
Claire Breslin
Roisin Hickey
Baggy Shorts Male
Seamus O'Neill
Andrew McCabe
Ben Philip
Baggy Shorts Female
Eilis Ni Duill
Ursula Redmond
Full results are here
Praise again is also due for Niall and his team for putting on another excellent event and continuing to bring mountain biking to the masses. I mean, if you were the sort of individual that was out on your bike regularly, fancied giving a bit of MTB racing a go and didn't really know whether club racing was going to be your thing, then this series is the one for you. It's a ton of fun!!
The next one's on in Ticknock on Paddy's day and I have no doubt in my mind that it's going to be another belter. Entries are open now at this link
