Bikedock Belles

The event was held over two days, Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th October, with two stages on each day, mountain biking and running or if you were really keen 'or mad' you could do all four stages.  The girls packed up on Saturday morning and hit the road planning to be in the 'party town' of Ballyvaughan after lunch-time. With a bit of a late start 'caused by a certain belle' and too many tea and pee stops they arrived in The Burren 'by chance' as Julie had forgotten the maps she'd carefully prepared and Eileen's sat nav crashed. It all was in hand however as Limerick was the name of the stallion that covered one of Julie's horses  recently so clearly this was the direction they headed AND they were right 'again'...

Happy to give the running a miss on the Saturday the girls rolled up to the Ailwee cave to sign on Sunday morning and were ready to race at 11am 'after Julie working some magic on Eileen' a much required neck and shoulder massage to ease her pain from a recent incident, Eileen being the tough cookie that she is was happy that she couldn't turn her neck either side she proceeded to make her way to the start... The girls realised quickly that this would have been a great money making exercise with lots of requests from fellow competitors asking for massage...Next time

The first MTB stage started and finished at the Aillwee Caves entrance. The distance was approximately 23km and the route was varied with steep climbs, lots of different types of terrain including gravel roads with loose rocks, green roads, forest tracks and single track, before returning to the finish area and everyone was welcomed back to a much needed lunch.

The second MTB stage was over the same course however, with a twist 'literally' as the course was reversed and it was a time trial. With tired legs after the mornings efforts all of the competitors pushed their bikes through the actual caves to the start line which was still within the caves. They all started with approx 15 sec intervals and raced out of the dark caves to the paddock were they were cheered on by tourists and spectators, this added such a buzz to the event.

This event was soo well organised down to the finest detail and with over 100 odd riders the girls did themselves proud. Julie finished 2nd in the womens category and a respectable 42nd overall with 2.08.06 in the 23k and 103.39 in the TT. Eileen finished 9th in the womens category and 87th overall clocking home after the first stage at 2.40.27 and 1.23.58 for her TT.  Some strong performances in the womens category, lets get a few more of us down there next year!

Well done to everyone who took part and hats off to all of those competitors who completed all four stages. This is one to get in the diary now for next year, we will defintely be there and will have a few more troops along for the craic.

Click here to view The Caveman photos

Ding Dongx

Julie