Emerald Enduro - It's Demo Time

Emerald Enduro - Newsletter #4 It's demo time!

With less than a month to go to the Emerald Enduro on Carrick Mountain in Wicklow it's time to turn our attention to a new feature of our event village - the demo area.

This year we've teamed up with Chain Reaction Cycles to offer a demo area on the Friday and Saturday of race week where you can try out a variety of brands including Vitus bikes, Nukeproof, Ragley and last years fastest bike brand - Cube. While there will be plenty of bikes available it is essential to book in advance. Of huge interest will be the new carbon Vitus Sommet bikes, the prototypes of this frame were tested by CRC staff at the Emerald Enduro last year.

It's not just bikes though, there'll be gear, componentry and helmets from some of the massive amount of brands that Chain Reaction Cycles deal with. Booking information can be found here.

Of course there will be loads more going on in our enormous event village with the team pits, rider signings, food, drink and entertainment.

Coillte Outdoors Welcome Mountain Bikers for EWS 2016

With just one month to go we would like to thank Coillte for their continued support, without them events like this simply wouldn't happen in Ireland. Among other things Coillte manage 445,000 hectares of land, or about 7% of the land cover of Ireland, over 1 million acres of which are forests.

Coillte developed the first purpose-built cross-country trails for mountain biking (MTB) in 2007/2008 and continue to add new trails and new sites to this network. These have become the backbone of recreational off-road biking in Ireland and as interest in off-road cycling continues to grow, they have a number of new trails being planned over the next few years.

MTB trails range from easy to really challenging, and anyone with a level of ability on a mountain bike will find something for themselves in these trails. Coillte's aim is to provide authentic and fun trails in different environments and landscapes, appealing to as wide a range of visitors as possible.

Marshalls required!

We are currently recruiting for a small army of volunteers to help us guide the racers through their day. We are looking for hardworking, enthusiastic people who are prepared to take on all roles as directed by team leaders.

Volunteers should be at least 16 years old and you do not need any previous experience, you will be clearly guided on what's happening. If you have any specific skills, for example if you speak any foreign languages, then let us know. In return we provide a goodie bag including a cool event tee shirt, lunch and snacks throughout the day. The added bonus is you get to rub shoulders with the best riders in the world.

EWS Round 1 & 2 summary

Of course it's not just about Ireland. We've already had two rounds of the 2016 Enduro World Series with round 1 in Chile and round 2 in Argentina. The opening round took place in the spectacular location of Corral and despite a forest fire that threatened the event the season started with a bang.

Richie Rude on course. Photo Matt Wragg

In the mens field defending EWS World Champion Richie Rude has took up pretty much where he left off with a spectacular win. The young Yeti rider seems nearly unstoppable on current form. Last year in Carrick he was third, it will be interesting to see what happens this time around.

GT's Martin Maes took second in Chile with veteran Nico Vouilloz showing he still has it to finish third. Behind them were good stage performances from two former World Champions Jerome Clementz (4th overall) and Jared Graves who still managed to finish 8th overall despite snapping a chain on one of the stages.

Ravanel flying in Chile. Photo Matt Wragg

In the women's field Cecile Ravanel took the win with a 25 second cushion over Anneke Beerton and followed by Isabeau Cordurier, now on the Sunn team.

From Chile the riders headed to Argentina where the theme was dust and lots of it, wheel deep in spots as Ireland's Greg Callaghan discovered in a huge crash. He quickly dusted himself off (pun intended) but continued to finish 20th, the same spot he occupied in round 1.

Rude dominated again taking win number two with Maes also showing consistency to finish second. The surprise of the day was downhill World Cup rider Sam Blenkinsop who finished third.

Ravanel also took her second win with Trek's Casey Brown in second and Cordurier again in third. There has been a definite changing of the guard.

Casey Brown bossing Argentina. Photo Matt Wragg

With the young guns starting to show their power there are many of the older pros chomping at the bit and it will be interesting to see how fitness levels handle the physical one day of long racing in Carrick and what affect it has on the overall.

That's all for now, we're off to work some more on the course and put together the miles of signage to help you navigate around the mountain. Don't forget the dates Friday 13th - Sunday 15th of May in Carrick for the event (party) of the century. In the meantime make sure you are following us on Facebook and Twitter (see links below) for all the up to the minute info on the Emerald Enduro.