Enduro National Championships 2025 report

The 2025 National Enduro Championships took place at Careys Castle, County Waterford, close to the town of Clonmel over the weekend of 9-10 August. Hosted by Biking.ie under the direction of Niall Davis, the event incorporated 6 timed downhill style stages plus one power stage for e-bikes. On Saturday the riders could do a Mash up style event across stages 4, 5 and 6 meaning they could do multiple timed runs on those stages in any order. The riders were also able to do untimed practice runs on stages 1, 2 and 3. Sunday was the Classic style race where the riders had to do the stages in order and only had one timed run per stage. There was a time limit of 5 hours to complete the stages. The weather was warm with just occasional light showers which didn’t last very long. The trails were in great condition and running well.

In the Under 17 age category Shane Whelan (Kilcullen Cycling Club) took the win ahead of Logan Reddin (MBCC) with Luke Jennings (GAP MTB) third. All three riders had two stages each were they were the fastest rider in this category. Shane was fastest in stages 1 and 2, Logan was fastest in stages 3 and 5 and Luke was fastest in stages 4 and 6.

The Under 21 men put in some excellent times. Adam Murphy (Killarney Cycling Club) won this category, was fastest in 3 out of 6 stages and had the 5th fastest time overall across all categories. Daniel Slevin (LMBC) was second in the Under 21s, was fastest in stage 5 and was 6th fastest overall. Aaron Meredith (Hush) rounded off the podium in third place picking up fastest rider in this category in stages 4 and 6.

Among the women Hannah Mullin (Gortin MTB) took the win with Meave Baxter (Cuchulainn / RCR) second. Blaithin Sweeny (LMBC) was first fastest in 5 out of the 6 stages but a crash on stage 3 cost her the championship and left her with a cut chin. Missing from the race was Leah Maunsell who is out injured, which also meant that she has broken her streak, having won every enduro national championships since its inception.

There was only a small turnout of 6 riders in the Masters M30 category. Youen Horner (Un-Attached) took the win, fastest M30 in 3 out of the 6 stages. Second place went to Damian Dabrowski who had the fastest time in the remaining 3 stages. Jason Murphy (Killarney Cycling Club) finished third.

In the M40s race Philip Mullan (Racefit Mtb) was fastest with Jamie Whelan (GAP MTB) second and Glyn O’Brien (Un-Attached) third. Philip was fastest in 5 out of the 6 stages with Jamie fastest in the remaining stage.

In the M50s category Hugh Arthur (Hush) was fastest in 4 out of the 6 stages and took the win. David Lenehan (Mullaghmeen Mountain Biking Club) was fastest in stage 3 which gave him second overall and Timo Shinnors (Team Ballyhoura) was fastest in stage 4 which gave him third in this category.

The Senior men’s race is always tightly fought over but this year was exceptional. Greg Callaghan (Club Gravity BC) retained his title from 2024 but only just. Kelan Grant (Gortin MTB), who was second last year to Greg by 5.12 seconds, was just 5 hundredths of a second slower than Greg in 2025. 12:28:51 (Greg) to 12:28:56 (Kelan). Finishing third this year was Brendan Conroy (EPIC MTB) with last year’s third place rider, Gary Donaldson (Team Caldwell Cycles) having to settle for fourth this year. Daniel Lappin (Cup & Cone Team Racing) was fifth.

In the Open, non championship race, it was great to see David Conroy back racing. David took the win in this category ahead of Xavier Arnold (Mullaghmeen Mountain Biking Club) with Davy McFall (Caldwells) third.

This year was a test event for the E-bike national championships. Eleven riders took part across the 7 stages. Eoghan Priestley (Djouce MTB) took the win ahead of Mark McQuaid (Djouce MTB) with Niall Hassett third.

A huge thank to Niall Davis and all at Biking.ie and friends for hosting the event. Thanks to Coillte for the use of the forest and the landowner for the use of the field. Thankfully not too many injuries but thanks to the first aid crews for their assistance.

Commissaire: Martin Grimley

Results: here

Race report by Martin Grimley