picture courtesy : WesWic Sliders Banging Dash Photography
Whatever enticed them to ride, last Sunday’s LX event at The Lambe Blessington included arguably Ireland’s fastest rider Stuart Edmonds multi Irish MX champion, Ian Coates MTB rider and no slouch at MX or Enduro and Mervyn Griffin who should have won the opening Irish Enduro round but for checking in early . Whether it was the venue , a new one to Fastlane , the date or the closeness to the capital (It was not the weather) these additions added to a more than normal list of Enduro/ MX riders made for a welcome entry and some fine racing . Even Liam O’Brien put in an appearance and was in fine form until he lost his gears. Four classes , races of 45 , 60 and 45 minutes around a lap of some 8 minutes including am MX style run through the quarry , grassland and the dreaded forest , not long but taxing . Heavy rain on Saturday night made that part and some of the early grassland a little more challenging than was planned . Nothing difficult all just physical and in need of respect . Once the rain abated the track got better and easier so by race 2 and 3 it was fine . Fastlane , never ones to be routine tried the 3 race format last year and it seemed to be well received so have kept it for this series. Some riders prefer the longer format but it seems the majority would opt for the former. Please post a comment if you agree…
picture courtesy : WesWic Sliders Banging Dash Photography
Formal results for all classes will be posted very soon we understand but it almost goes without saying that Edmonds took the overall . A Cat playing with the Mice would be a good description , looking effortless Stuart controlled all 3 legs to win every one at ease but never from the front . If we knew better we would think he purposely held back to record every win from mid pack . It is always the sign of a good rider when they look slow but are in fact fast moving forward when many are going sideways . Behind Coates and Griffin has race long battles right to the flag with Coates finally filling 2 nd place .
picture courtesy : WesWic Sliders Banging Dash Photography
Seniors proved a tussle between Josh Caldwell and Michael Tobin , never much between them in any of the 3 legs with perhaps the forest run proving the deciding factor . Simon Kennedy , now domiciled in London was an impressive 3rd .
picture courtesy : WesWic Sliders Banging Dash Photography
Ben Braithwaite swapped the trials bike for the Enduro model to head the Clubman pack followed overall by Adam Billings posting his best result and MX rider Richie Cummins battled the forest to 3rd .
The large sportsman class saw Andrew Lohan run out the overall winner , very local man Eamonn Blake back from AUS in 2 nd and he who rides the old bike AUS man Tom Dooly in 3 RD .
Individual times and scores on timing master sheet. Have a look .
Fastlane want to acknowledge the assistance and cooperation of the land owner Sean Blake( without whom it would not happen) all our helpers ; Robbie and family ; Mark Mc ; Chad ; Trevor B ; Nic ; Renata , Rimante , Ali, Dr.Paul ;and all others .
picture courtesy : WesWic Sliders Banging Dash Photography
Keith Tiernan who was carted off in the wagon is thankfully ok , and so is the tree . There there to both !
There are loads of photos on line so thanks to all the photo guys .
Round 1 The Fast Lane Long Cross Championship by WesWic Sliders Banging Dash Photography :
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Round 2 scheduled July 10th … Brittas Co. Dublin …. 5 minutes from Sunday’s venue .
Enduro.ie