O'Callaghan Makes it Three-In-A-Row While Tobin Takes First in Ballyhoura

Oisin O'Callaghan Takes His Third Downhill National Title as Lilian Tobin Clinches Her First

Oisin O’Callaghan took his third straight Elite Downhill National Championship yesterday as the Irish downhill community descended on his home trails in Ballyhoura.

O’Callaghan signed for Trek-Unbroken at the beginning of this year, and while the adjustment to a new team and bike may not have been as smooth as he would have liked initially, a top-20 in the most recent UCI World Cup round and a confident performance yesterday left no doubt that the 23-year-old is still operating at the top level. 

The Trek rider had to fend off World Cup level talent in Henry Kerr, with the AON Racing rider taking second place by just 1.3 seconds with Alex Hickey, a young rider with World Cup experience in his own right, taking third.

Speaking afterwards, O’Callaghan said; “It’s obviously nice to do it on home soil again, but it’s really just so cool to see such a big crowd here, and also get the likes of Henry over for a good challenge. It was hard to judge – he got a slow puncture yesterday so I wasn’t sure just how fast he was – but I kind of knew what I had in myself. I can’t complain, I got the time I set for myself in my head and really over the moon to do three in a row.”

He added, speaking on the wider Irish downhill scene and being a role model for younger riders; “Those lads [Greg Callaghan, Gavin Carroll, Dan Wolfe] were the ones that inspired me to want to go from here, to the UK, to Europe and onto racing World Cups and keep pushing myself. As a kid you’re doing it for the pure passion and the love of riding your bike, and you can do that to just cruise around, but there’s a few individuals – you can see them up there – they have that shine in their eye that they want to make that next step. I think it’s important that they have riders that they can look up to so close to home as well.”

Lilian Tobin took her first National Championship in the Women’s category. The GAP rider took her first title by almost five seconds ahead of Niamh Richards and last year’s champion Blaithin Sweeny, both of whom were on the podium at the recent IXS Cup event in France. All three podium riders have made their World Cup debuts this season, in what is an increasingly strong category.

Tobin said afterwards; “It feels amazing, I’ve been trying for three years and I think I crashed in two and just missed out last year so to get it by five seconds I’m really happy.” Referencing the changeable weather conditions over the weekend, she added: "That rain made those rocks really slippy but I just kind of put my mind away, didn’t think about it, and tried to ride it like I did Saturday [in seeding]. Being able to push myself to the limits racing internationally this year has really helped me grow, it’s been great.”

Obea FMD Racing rider Darragh Ryan saw his season impacted by injury last year, but the World Cup regular took top spot in the Junior Men’s category in Ballyhoura. MBCC rider Logan Reddin was next quickest, less than four seconds back, with another GAP rider in Michal Michniacki taking third.

GAP rider Ross McGowan stood atop the podium for the U16 category, 4.5 seconds ahead of Diarmuid O’Sealbhaigh of Gravity BC in second and McGowan’s GAP teammate Luca Duff in third.

Lisburn BMX rider Caleb Ross won the U14 category ahead of GAP pairing Freddie Miloiu and Alex Tracey in second and third respectively.

Less than one second separated the top three in the M30 category. MBCC rider John McCarthy took the win with Killarney’s Cathal Hickey 0.2 second back and Rebel MTB rider Alex Nowotynski 0.6 seconds off the win.

Colin Ross saw his son take the U14 category before himself taking top spot in the M40 category. Ross beat out stiff competition in Rob Davis, second, and off-road stalwart Glyn O’Brien in third.

Michael Cowan won the M50 category, less than one second ahead of Gravity BC rider Brendan Masterson in second, with Djouce MTB’s Ken Kelly taking third.

The Open category saw Tommy Magnenat take the win again for Cycleology Racing ahead of BikeLab Racing’s Timmy Rogers in second and Roland Katona in third.

All eyes now turn to Enduro National Championships on August 8th and 9th in Killaloe, hosted by LMBC. Entries are open for this event here.