Wrong line !
The beautiful vale of Aughavanna forms the backdrop for the GLENDALOUGH Irish Enduro championship held last Sunday . Over the years with ever tightening environmental restrictions the event has moved first from its spiritual home in GLENDALOUGH ( now Ireland’s 3rd most popular tourist attraction) to GLENMALURE ( now a popular walking halt) to its current location at Aughavanna . Nothing wrong with the terrain , in fact it is very good ( and as previously stated would be the envy of many a federation) but Parc Ferme in the forest somehow does not quite match the car park of the Glendalough hotel . Such is progress or the ”greenies” ruling the roost . To add to the COC headaches, part of the forest is still out of bounds due to leaf disease , a fact obeyed by us motorcyclists but not the other non engined two wheelers or the two legged kind either . Makes you wonder .
Hard work this marking out
Now , they say life begins at 40 and there is many an Enduro rider will agree , however in Harold Crawfords case forty me thinks is long gone and there may well be a 50 something in there. Harold is our winner and hats off to him ; fit man great technical rider and not so slow to boot. We congratulate him . Not the fastest in any test but the most consistent. Davy Mc Nulty who was second and unbeaten for some time , may have been slowed a bit on one test , however there is a lesson to be learned there . In the end 5 seconds was the difference. Mervyn Griffin who put in the fastest test time is not far short of winning an event …… just not this one and third was the finish .
Brash
The senior class showed up a small surprise with Joe Convery topping the poll with all three fastest times , Paddy Flanagan some 30 seconds adrift and Michael Tobin a further 20 behind . Four laps was long for the seniors and consistently this class does the most work and ride the longest day . Never an easy class here or elsewhere.
John Mc Cann looks unbeatable in the Clubman, obviously all the training paying dividends and his times would not be out of place in the seniors . ( where he will be next season ! ) Relatively easy winner here , from Shane Kenny with consistent times and a clean run. Last rung was Des Byrne less than a second ahead of Seamey O Sullivan .
There is no novice or sportsman class at a national event .
So , all in all another good event , a revised test and some new going including that Downhill ! . MC Cann senior said: ”it was a doddle” … I think we need a video of that doddle .
There was a good party of helpers on Saturday ( before it pissed down ) and our COC Alan Leckie wants to thank them all , the timekeepers , ambulance , sigh on etc.
Well done to all and thanks.
Provisional Results Below:
Glendalough 2016 Provisional Results
Glendalough Enduro 2016 :
Enduro.ie