The 2025 Cross-country National Point Series started in County Wicklow on Sunday 4 May and finished in County Wicklow on Sunday 6 July. A short season of 5 rounds with around 300 different riders taking part overall, 5 clubs from 4 counties. Round 5 was held in Ballinastoe as part of the Wickow Mountain Bike Festival which is the second time that Biking.ie has held such a multi-off-road cycling discipline weekend. There was a “Whip Off” on Friday evening, an enduro race on Saturday, the cross-country race on Sunday as well as a downhill race on Sunday too. The race village was again set up with the big tent accommodating seating, podium, timing and music. There were mountain bikers everywhere you looked. The weather had been mostly kind with some short spells of rain. The schedule for the cross-country event was moved to one hour earlier to accommodate the downhill race. Paul Joyce was back on the microphone. The start/finish was on the main forest road. As this was the last round of the series, there were trophies being presented. Riders had to have competed in 3 of the 5 races to be considered for the overall trophies.

Festival village

The Under 6s and Under 8s had a short track staying close to the race village. The Under 6s had 2 laps of this course which required the 5 young riders to need some parental/grand-parental assistance.

The Under 8s didn’t need any support as they took on 5 laps of this short track. Winning the boys’ race was Scottie Lockhart (Un-Attached Leinster) with Evan McTavish (Western Lakes CC) second and Cameron Keatinge third.  Elisa Tyszecka (MBCC) was the only entry for the girls race. The overall series trophies for the boys went to (1) Evan McTavish and (2) Scottie Lockhart . Elisa Tyszecka won the overall series for the girls.

The Under 10s course took them up the forest road before turning into the trees. They had 2 laps to complete. Jaxon Jennings (Bear Cycling) got his 4th win of the series. Josh Ruddell (Shelbourne/Orchard CC) was second with Naoise Cunningham (Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) third. In the girls’ race Ríonach Campbell (Square Wheels) got her 4th win of the series with Marian Mulvaney (Sliabh Luachra Cycling Club) finishing second. For the overall trophies: Boys – 1 – Jaxon Jennings, 2 – Josh Ruddell, 3 – Finn McTavish. Girls – 1 – Ríonach Campbell, 2 – Marian Mulvaney

For this round the Under 12s used the Under 14s course. They had one lap to do. In the boys’ race Fabian Drwal (Lynx Cycling Club) picked up his second win of the series. Benjamin Cunningham (Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) finished second with Lewis Bell (Shelbourne/Orchard CC) third and Nathan Baker (Breffni Wheelers) fourth. Aoife Campbell (Square Wheels) picked up her 4th win of the series. Lara Burton (Un-Attached Leinster) was second with Emilia Tyszecka (MBCC) third. For the overall trophies there was tie for 2nd place among the boys between Fabian and Lewis with Fabian taking the second place trophy due to his two wins.
Boys – 1 – Benjamin Cunningham, 2 – Fabian Drwal, 3 – Lewis Bell. Girls 1 – Aoife Campbell, 2 – Emilia Tyszecka.

At 11 am the Under 14s, Under 16s, Senior 1 women, Senior 2 women, Senior 3 women and the Senior 4 open riders had their race. The Under 14s used a reduced course with all other riders using the full course.

The overall winner of the Under 14 boys’ series had to come down to the last event when Oscar Moran (EPIC MTB) and James Cunningham (Team WORC) were both tied on 2 wins each, 110 points. Both started well and were together at the end of lap 1 but it was Oscar who managed to have the better lap 2 and 3 to take the win ahead of James. Billy Lord (Breffni Wheelers) was third with Xander Huele (Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) fourth. In the Under 14 girls’ race Ava Baker (Breffni Wheelers) had already got 3 wins in the series and managed to get her fourth win at Ballinastoe. Ciara O’Connor (Drogheda Wheelers) finished second. This was how the overall series finished for the girls. For the boys it was Oscar and James, first and second overall with Cian Walsh (IMBRC) picking up the third place.

The Under 16 boys had 3 laps of the full course. Conor Regan (Kilcullen Cycling Club Murphy Geospacial) lead from start to finish with Fionn Crinion (IMBRC) second and Darragh O’Keeffe (EPIC MTB) third. There was only one entry for the Under 16 girls – Ysabella Huele (TC Racing) – who completed 2 laps. For the overall series Boys – 1 – Fionn Crinion, 2 – Joshua Loos, 3 – Darragh O’Keeffe.

The Senior 3 women only had one entry with Junior rider Eabha Hughes (Un-Attached Ulster) completing 2 laps. The Senior 2 women had 3 laps to complete. Fiona Lally (EPIC MTB) got her 4th win of the series. Catriona Wheeler (Agivey Cycling Club) was second with Sinead Greenan (Galway MTB) third and Ellen Murray (Oldcastle CC) fourth. For the overall series it finished (1) Fiona, (2) Catriona and (3) Sinead.

The change to the race schedule caught out Ciara Macmanus (Un-Attached Ulster) who only arrived just in time for the start of the Senior 1 women’s race without having had a practice lap. This lead to Ciara unfortunately taking the Under 14 course loop on her first lap thus forfeiting her lead. Joanna Bula (Team WORC) had no such issues and went on to win the 4 lap race. Jean Wilson (EPIC MTB) made her series debut for 2025 and finished second. For the overall series it finished (1) Joanna Bula, (2) Tara Brennan and (3) Ciara Macmanus.

The Senior 4 open race was held over 3 laps with Doruk Balkan (EPIC MTB) leading from the starting whistle. William Rock (EPIC MTB) finished second with Mark Bell (Shelbourne/Orchard CC) third, Justin Doherty (Dunloy CC) fourth and Daniel Reynolds (Hush MTB) fifth.

At 1 pm it was the turn of the Senior 1, Senior 2 and Senior 3 open races. The Senior 1s had 6 laps, Senior 2 had 5 and Senior 3 had 4.

In the Senior 3 open race Daryl Kearns (Dungarvan CC) got his second win of the series. Emil Tyszecki (MBCC) finished second with Michal Metlicka (Club Rothaiochta Na Sionainne) third. Visitor Zbigniew Kiszka (Pressing RIBOX, Schody I Drzwi Gromotka Team) was fourth with Padraig Ryan (Fermoy Cycling Club) fifth and Enda McLoughlin (Un-Attached Connacht) sixth. Emil Tyszecki won the overall series with Michal Metlicka second and a joint third between Enda McLoughlin and Daryl Kearns.

The Senior 2 open race was won by Michael Burton (Team WORC), his second win of the series. Dominic Drwal (Lynx Cycling Club) finished second with Ian O’Connell (Team WORC) third, Colm McGarvey (EPIC MTB) fourth, John Doris (EPIC MTB) fifth and Glyn O’Brien (Un-Attached Ulster) sixth. Michael’s win secured him the overall series trophy. Colm Bradley (EPIC MTB) was unable to race this final round after breaking his leg cycling within the past few weeks. Colm did make it down to the event village to take his place on the podium (on crutches!) for second place overall in the series. Ian O’Connell secured the overall third place.

In the Senior 1 open race David Montgomery (Spellman-Dublin Port) got his 4th win of the series. Legend of the sport Robin Seymour (Team WORC) made his way up from 6th on lap 1 to 2nd place on lap 4 which he held to the finish. Nathan Kurensky (Dan Morrissey Pissei Cycling Team) finished third with Sean Lundy (UCD Cycling Club) fourth, Daniel Brickenden (Team WORC) fifth and Sean Feeney (Team WORC) sixth. The overall series trophies went to (1) David Montgomery, (2) Robin Seymour and (3) Daniel Brickenden.

Thanks to all the riders for supporting the series and to the parents and support crew for looking after those riders. Thanks to Solid Gear Footwear for providing the caps and buffs for the series as well as holdalls for the overall winners. A huge thanks to Niall Davis and his crew at Biking.ie for hosting the event. The next cross-country event will be the National Championships which are being held in Tracton Woods, County Cork over 19-20 July 2025, hosted by MBCC.

Commissaire: Martin Grimley

Results here

Series table after 5 rounds here

Report by Martin Grimley

Photos
To follow