XC Marathon Champs - 18th September

[don]

Best of luck lads, might do this one myself next year

[frankb]

How did today go lads?

[DavidF]

Great day out, tough bike and body battering course, I hope there aren't as many dings in my bike as my body ....

The 795 pecking order ( cos we all know that's all that matters ) was dc-df-bb-dt, dc 4.5 hrs, dt 6 hrs

I believe dc is doing the race report, including a blow by blow account of his disappearance into the smelly boghole of doom.....

[DavidT]

Results and pics:

http://www.teamballyhoura.com/forum/vie ... ?f=9&t=524

[don]

Well done guys, 4.5 hours + is a seriously loooong time on the bike. Haven't yet aspired to that distance. Savages

[DavidC]

Great day out yesterday. Here's a bit of a report...
http://racing795.com/2011/09/19/xc-mara ... mber-2011/

[pjd]

Well done lads
David you should do all the race reports that's the funniest start to one i've ever read

[frankb]

Well done lads, that's heavy going

Mr Conway (aka Archie the archaeologist) well done on beating 5 of the elite men re: time and taking the honours over the Racing 795 contingent.

[DavidF]

Don;t know about the lads, but I feel battered beyond belief today. Last time I felt like this was after a car crash....

That was the third marathon i've done this summer, and by far the most physically demanding. So much singletrack descending where you had to be 100% concentrated and no time for resting. The Ballyhoura's is a rocky ole place and the body took a real beating. How anyone (barry?) rode that course on a hardtail is beyond me.

I hear that Ireland is hosting the 2014 European mtb Marathon Champs - that would be a fitting venue - and those EU softies won't know what hit them

Big thanks to Barry as well, having to steer the Big Blue Bus home after over 5 hours in the saddle. Now that's tough.

[BarryB]

Top job on the race report there mr comway. I reckon that was my toughest day on a bike. I decided halfway around that 65km was not an effective test of endurance so I did an extra bit of single track went on a tour of a fire road and found myself back at 27km which I had passed some way back, only to see the last placed rider come around the corner followed by the sweeper motor bike. After banishing some deamons from my head I had Furlongs mantra from earlier ringing in my ears "either go hard or go home"so I set off in ernest. Days like this reafirm the fact, given the choice on any Irish evening I'll always reach for the mtb.