Maunsell And Bate Claim Victories In The Final Round Of The Downhill National Series

Maunsell And Bate Claim Victories In The Final Round Of The Downhill National Series

Leah Maunsell (Image: Atom Creates)

The third and final round of the 2023 Downhill National Series (Irish Downhill Mountain bike Series) took place in Bree, Co. Wexford over the weekend of September 9th and 10th. 

Hosted by Bree Mountain Bike Club, both riders and spectators were treated to a cracking weekend of racing. 

Light showers added some greasiness to sections of the course on Sunday but for the most part, the course remained dry. 

Leah Maunsell continued her dominance in the women’s category with a win margin of almost four seconds making it three wins for three. Hannah Mullen finished in second place with Shenna McKiverigan rounding off the podium. 

The elite men’s category was incredibly close with just 1.5 seconds separating the top three riders. Conor Bate proved strongest on the day taking an impressive win ahead of Jake Kavanagh and Joel Hamilton. 

In the standout performance of the weekend, youth rider Darragh Ryan set the second fastest time overall on race day. At just 15 years of age and competing in the youth U16 category, the young rider made his mark in the Irish Downhill scene with an outstanding performance completing the course in 1:36.1, just 0.1 seconds off the quickest time across all categories. 

Darragh Ryan (Image: Atom Creates)

The youth U16 category was highly impressive with four riders all going under the 1:40.00 mark. On the day Ruairí Steele finished second to Darragh Ryan with Alex Hickey rounding off the podium. 

Calum Rice finished in first place in the Junior men’s category ahead of Tadhg Quirke and Conor Cartwright. 

In the Boy’s U14 category, Jamie Duffy picked up a win as his GAP MTB teammates filled the remaining spots on the podium with Luke Jennings and Michal Michniacki finishing second and third respectively. 

In the masters categories, James MacFerran won the M30 category in what was a very tight battle with Chris Muphy, just milliseconds separating the pair. Glyn O’Brien picked up the M40 win while the M50 category winner was Brendan Materson.  

Adam Smiley took first place in the senior men’s category while the sports men’s category saw Ruairi McDonald claim the top spot on the podium. 

Overall series winners will be confirmed in due course. 

Full results are available here.