21 Irish Mountain Bikers made the trip to Pra-Loup for the 2008 Masters World Championships. On arrival the early reports were that the xc course was not too technical. By Saturday morning however the easy decent through a farmers field had worn through to a challenging trail of sand and rocks. The same situation occurred with the DH course with a build up of soft sandy soil off the racing line. This meant riders had to be completely 100% on it or they would lose serious time.
Saturday morning saw Epic MTB/Cyclesuperstore rider Beth McCluskey start the 35-39 XC race. A late entry gave her a second row grid position but with a total of 14 in the race it wasn’t too much cause for concern. Claudia Marsilio (ITA), the eventual winner made a storming start leaving the rest of the field to play catch up. In the end Marsilio was playing a catch up game of her own by catching the entire 30-34 category despite their five minute starting advantage. For most of the race Beth was in fourth on the wheel of the third placed rider Eva Carrer (SUI) with Daniela Veronesi (SMR) having a comfortable margin in second. On the last of the three laps Beth found her old form attacked Eva. She eventually finished over a minute ahead to take the final podium position .
On Saturday afternoon Meave Baxter put in a terrific run taking what we all thought was third. When the riders were called to the podium the Irish camp was stunned to silence when her name wasn’t announced as the third placed rider. It turned out Meave actually came 2nd to the delight of the camp. Meave was by far and away the most ecstatic medal winner of the champs partying into wee small hours.
In the men’s 50-54 category Peter Popham and Tom Sheridan were flying the flag. Peter crashed while on a good run and came 17th overall. Tom felt he was a bit too cautious but still managed a very respectable 11th. In the 40-44 category Stephen Davidson and Colin Finley finished just over a second apart to take 28th and 31st respectively
In the Men 35-39 Joe Ward was the best of the Irish with 16th with Nigel Elder and Paul Callan taking 59th and 97th respectively.
The 30-34 was the event with the largest Irish entry, six in all. The entire camp was hoping Glyn could go one better than last year and take gold. First down was Francis Kearns who opted for the get down in one piece option claiming 109th place for his endeavors. Sean Herlihy hit a tree on the way down was fractional slower than Kearns to finish up 110th. Damien Duggan was happy with 97th after a good clean run. Dale. McMullan finished and excellent 36th place with a time just outside 3 minutes. Micheal Cowan despite having shattered his pelvis earlier this year took a fine 31st place. Glyn O’Brien was the last of the Irish down having qualified 10th. His time of 2:46:79 was the fastest of the day so far and he made his way to the hot seat. With a good few fast riders remaining it was a nervous time for the Irish. Eventually it was Cyril Lagneau (FRA) who took his place only to loose it himself as the fastest time tumbled with each successive rider. Glyn eventually finished and excellent 6th.
8:00 the following morning saw the start of the mens 45-49 XC race. All three Irish entrants were on the front row having entered early. At the start things were looking good with Peter Buggle on the wheel of Jean-Paul Stephan (FRA) the pair had a lead of about a minute after just half a lap. The first lap effort seemed to take its toll on Peter by midway through the race the chasing group had caught back up while Stephan managed to extend his lead. John O’Reilly had a good first lap and managed maintain his mid pack position. Willie Mulligan was a few places further back but was making progress through the field. By the last lap Peter had fallen back to eight still a fantastic result but below his potential. John kept his head to finish 28th with a comfortable margin over Willie who reeled in the riders between them to finish 29th.
In the Mens 35-39 category Gordon Lucas failed to finish with a puncture. In the final race on the champs the 30-34 James McCluskey and Sean Herlihy took part. Sean still recovering from the previous nights celebrations snapped a chain and failed to finish James put in a strong ride picking is way through the field. After a poor start he battled is way from 40th to eventually wining a sprint with Denys Marhem (FRA) for 13th.
Womens 35-39 XCO
1 MARSILIO Claudia 1h21:12.11
2 VERONESI Daniela 1h24:08.17 +2:56.06
3 MCCLUSKEY Beth 1h26:01.27 +4:49.16
Womens 30-39 DH
1 BONAGLIA Chantal 3:45.46
2 BAXTER Meave 3:46.27 +0.81
3 DAPPEN Nathalie 3:50.54 +5.08
MENS 50-54 DH
1 DELSOUILLER Eric 3:07.12
2 EDWARDS George 3:15.35 +8.23
3 MIROSLAV Pek 3:17.85 +10.73
Irish
9 SHERIDAN Tom 3:45.32 +38.20
18 POPHAM Peter 4:07.83 +1:00.71
MENS 40-44 DH
1 WALDMANN Marcel 2:51.11
2 FENCH Paul 2:58.60 +7.49
3 NIXON Chris 2:58.86 +7.75
Irish
28 DAVIDSON Stephen 3:23.26 +32.15
31 FINLEY Colin 3:24.59 +33.48
MENS 35-39 DH
1 VAN DE HATERD Wilfred 2:47.40
2 TRIBUS Lars 2:49.08 +1.68
3 MILWARD Mark 2:50.80 +3.40
Irish
16 WARD Joe 2:59.88 +12.48
59 ELDER Nigel 3:18.93 +31.53
97 CALLAN Paul 3:58.74 +1:11.34
Mens 30-34 DH
1 BERTRAM Lee 2:42.64
2 MARCH Shaums 2:44.57 +1.93
3 MISSER Pau 2:44.73 +2.09
Irish
6 O’BRIEN Glyn 2:46.79 +4.15
31 COWAN Michael 2:59.08 +16.44
36 MCMULLAN Dale 3:00.24 +17.60
97 DUGGAN Damien 3:25.47 +42.83
109 KEARNS Francis 3:35.64 +53.00
110 HERLIHY Sean 3:36.09 +53.45
Mens 45-49 XCO
1 STEPHAN Jean-Paul 1h30:58.50
2 PERINI Gilberto 1h33:15.25 +2:16.75
3 BERLUSCONI Massimo 1h33:45.29 +2:46.79
Irish
8 BUGGLE Peter 1h36:25.53 +5:27.03
28 O’RAILLY John 1h47:07.24 +16:08.74
29 MULLIGAN William 1h48:24.56 +17:26.06
Mens 30-34 XCO
1 FOLCARELLI Massimo 1h48:41.27
2 DURIN Nicolas 1h52:19.79 +3:38.52
3 ABACHERLI Roland 1h53:50.80 +5:09.53
Irish
13 MCCLUSKEY James 2h02:40.62 +13:59.35
DNF HERLIHY Sean
Report coutesy James McCluskey
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