Several Irish riders made the trip to Switzerland for the European Downhill Championships over the 10th and 11th of August.


A challenging course in Champéry saw several big crashes in seeding runs on Saturday, which ultimately saw the remainder of the seeding cancelled.

 

The Irish riders present met the challenging conditions head on, and in the Elite Category Ronan Dunne grabbed himself a top 10. A strong ride for the Wicklow native saw him just one second off a podium place.

 

Caolan Sammon came in 113th, with Ross Ennis and Henry Kerr taking 127th and 128th respectively in a stacked Elite field.

 

In the Junior category, a heavy crash on Saturday meant Alex Hickey did not start the race on Sunday. Callum Morris, however, bagged himself a 9th place, sitting just 3 seconds off the podium places.

 

Three Irish riders took the track in the Under 17 Category. Cailan Lancashire was the highest place at 47th, while Ros O’Keefe finished 10 places back in 57th. Darragh Ryan rounded out the Irish representatives in 71st.

 

An immense ride from Diarmuid O’Sealbhaigh in the U15 category saw him take 6th place, while Ireland’s only other representative in this category, Jamie Kennedy, placed 22nd in a very talented field.

 

The Masters 45-49 saw two Irish riders in the top ten. Michael Cowan took 7th place, just two seconds ahead of Dale McMullan in 8th.

 

Michael White was Ireland’s sole representative in the Masters 60-64 category, and finished just off the podium in 4th.


Full results are available here.