Inter-provincial Youth MTB Competition 2025 report
Sunday 7 September 2025 saw the second Inter-provincial Youth MTB Competition take place at the McCrystal track in County Louth. Seven teams of riders took part, four from Ulster, one from Connacht, one from Leinster and an “All Stars” team with a mixed from Munster, Leinster and Ulster. This year there were five sections to complete: skills competition, team track stand, time trial, hill climb and team relay. The weather was overcast for most of the day, windy with the occasional showers but not enough to dampen the enthusiasm of the riders who were in the age range of 10 to 16.
The riders had one hour to practice the skills competition. This started with a bunny hop over two obstacles, a bottle lift, limbo bar, ride the skinnies, side hop over two strips of wood, a circle hop, riding through cones and then an optional wheelie. Riders had a choice of at least 3 of each of the above which were then awarded points on a scale of difficulty. For example, the cones were set apart at 150 cm, 120 cm and 100 cm with the points awarded going from 1 to 3 respectively. This was to cater for the wide range of ages and abilities within the group. Any obstacle not completed was deemed a ‘fault’. The faults then carried over to the time trial and hill climb as time penalties, hence the importance of getting the skills section right. Three riders scored the most points in this event (22), Kieran Mulvaney (All Stars), Kealan Doherty (Cycling Ulster Sharks) and Oscar Moran (EPIC Leinster). Aoife Campbell (Cycling Ulster Lions) was the only rider to have no faults. The overall team for the skills section was the Cycling Ulster Sharks.
The next section was the Team Track Stand. This was a new addition to this year’s competition. Teams would face each other in a round robin heat. There was plenty of encouragement from the onlookers. On the whistle the two teams approached their competition area then the stopwatch was started. If a rider put a foot down, they withdrew from the competition area. The last rider still holding a track stand took the win for the team. The longest hold was around 90 seconds. Two teams won 5 out of their 6 heats – Epic Leinster and Ulster BMX Collective.
After lunch it was the time trial. This was two laps of the grass circuit with riders starting one minute apart. Fastest male was Oscar Moran (Epic Leinster) in a time of 5 minutes 40 seconds with 2 faults from the skills adding 20 seconds to his time to give him an overall time of 6 minutes. Fastest female was Aoife Campbell (Cycling Ulster Lions) in a time of 7 minutes 26 seconds – no time penalties. The team with the highest points in the time trial was the Cycling Ulster Lions.
All riders then headed to the hill climb. This involved a single circuit on the hill which took in three climbs. Fastest rider was Darragh Murphy (Cycling Ulster Lions) in 45 seconds but his 3 faults at the skills brought him an overall time of 1 minute leaving him 3rd overall. Oscar Moran’s time of 47 seconds plus 2×5 seconds of time penalties from the skills section gave him the overall time of 57 seconds. Kealan Doherty (Cycling Ulster Sharks) finished in 54 seconds with just one fault adding 5 seconds to give him an overall time of 59 seconds. Fastest female was again Aoife Campbell in 1 minute 5 seconds. Ava Baker (Cycling Ulster Sharks) finished in 1 minute 16 seconds. The team with the highest points in the hill climb was the Cycling Ulster Sharks.
The final event was the team relay. One rider from each team would be on the course which incorporated both the time trial circuit and part of the hill climb circuit. All 7 teams had one rider start at the same time. Rider transitions happened in the area where the riders had to run through and then a simple tap on the team mates shoulder sent the next rider out onto the circuit. First team across the line was Epic Leinster with Cycling Ulster Sharks second and Cycling Ulster Lions third.
Start of team relay
For the overall event the top three boys were
1. Oscar Moran (EPIC Leinster)
2. Kealan Doherty (Cycling Ulster Sharks)
3. Kieran Mulvaney (All Stars)
Top 3 girls were
1. Aoife Campbell (Cycling Ulster Lions)
2. Ava Baker (Cycling Ulster Sharks)
3. Amelia Martin (Ulster BMX Collective).
The teams finished
1. Cycling Ulster Sharks
2. EPIC Leinster
3. Cycling Ulster Lions
4. All Stars
5. Connacht
6. Ulster BMX Collective
7. Orchard CC
Well done to all the riders. A big thanks to Bryan McCrystal for the use of the site and to Gareth McKee and Gary McKeegan for supporting the timing of the event. Thanks to all the parents who helped develop the event, reset the obstacles, tidied up and provided support for the riders. Thanks to Kenneth Mulvaney for the photos. Thanks to Cycling Ireland for providing goody bags to all the competitors.
Hopefully the riders will continue to practice their skills for next year’s competition.
Results here
Race report: Martin Grimley
