Coillte have been busy announcing plans for several new trail centres in Ireland.  Below are a number of releases on what is happening from MBI.

Ticknock

During the week the DMP held a public presentation at Ticknock, Dublin to outline their plans for permanent, waymarked mountainbike trails in the area. A large number of mtbers, walkers and locals turned out for the unveiling of the plans. The trails, designed by Coillte Recreation Manager Daithi DeForge, are intended to provide a facility for the large number of mountainbikers in the area as well as reduce potential conflicts on heavily-trafficked existing trails.

The initial routes will comprise a figure-of-eight loop taking in Ticknock car park,the aerials and over to the Ballyedmonduff side of the mountain. There will be approximately 7.5km of trail in total, incorporating singletrack and forest road sections.

Coillte is putting the plan out to tender with companies who expressed an interest earlier in the year. The aggressive schedule will see this first phase completed by the end of October 2010.

One issue of concern for the locals which arose at the presentation was the parking of cars outside the forest entrance at Ticknock. This can cause obstruction and inconvenience for local residents. Coillte are investigating potential solutions but in the meantime we urge mtbers using the forest to park elsewhere (e.g. local pub car parks) and cycle the short distance up to the trailhead.

Mourne Mountains

Things seem to be finally moving ahead on plans to put purpose built trails into both Rostrevor and Castlewellan Forest Parks. Route flagging has begun in Rostrevor and it is hoped both this work and the flagging in Castlewellan will be completed by September, with a view to project being completed in 2011.

In Rostrevor there are plans for two specific DH tracks and a big XC loop. 25km of single track in total, being nearly entirely red or black grade. One DH track will be pumpy and fun, jumps etc, the other will be as technical as they can make it, as close to the style of the existing champs track as possible. Both will have starts and finishes that are very conducive to using the forest drive for uplifts. The XC loop is big and goes up near the top of Slieve Martin. They will be much steeper than conventional trail centre trails, lots of rock sections, cool bits etc. They will cross the existing DH runs. No deliberate effort will be made to interfere with the DH runs, other than crossing them. Glynn O’Brien (the DH legend) is being involved in the plan for the two DH runs.

At this point we have no details on the specifics of the Castlewellan trails, other than that they will be more XC focused.

There have been some reports of trails flags going missing. Please see message below from CAAN & please forward to anyone you think may help:

Dafydd Davies is over at present doing the micro design for Rostrevor and Castlewellan mountain bikes trails. Sometime over the weekend someone went into Rostrevor and pulled out the canes, that are used to flag the trail, over a 300m stretch. This may not sound a lot but it is half a day of Dafydd’s time and if this continues - it’s just another obstacle that is jeopardizing the project. There is no additional funding for the micro design of the trails - so you can imagine if we lose more of the flagging - it’s going to be a major concern. Can you please ask all riders to keep an eye out when they are riding in the forest in case they see anyone removing the canes and report back to Clare at CAAN - clare@countryrsiderecreation.com.

Connemara

A trail-development plan is being put together to assess opportunities for mountain bike trails and facilities in Derroura and Derryclare in the Inagh Valley, Co. Galway.

A group of local riders have formed the Connemara Mountain Bike Alliance to develop trails in the area. Funding for the development plan has been awarded from the Forum Connemara Leader programme through Oughterard Community Partnership. UK trail-designer Pete Laing (of Glentress and Golspie fame) has visited the area to work on it and assess the options. The local Coillte forestry manager is also involved and being very supportive.

You’ll be able to follow developments on the new site: www.connemaramtb.com.