Walkinstown's Mountain biking sensation Killian Callaghan faces his final competition of the year this coming Thursday evening when he lines up with some of the County's elite sports stars at The Echo Newspaper 2016 Amateur Sports Awards.
Run in conjunction with the Green Isle Hotel and The South Dublin County Sports Partnership (SDCSP), the awards are now running for their eighth constitutive year.
This initiative has served to highlight a huge amount of achievements across a wide spectrum of amateur sports in South Dublin.
Each month both an individual competitor and team are nominated to go forward to ‘The Echo Sports Star’ and ‘Team of the Year’ final, the winners of which are announced at the special gala night.These awards seek to shine a spotlight on the achievements of local competitors and teams in their respective fields.
Callaghan has enjoyed an unforgettable year’s campaign as he travelled the globe contesting the Enduro World Series, The Gravity Ireland Series and the fearsome French race The Mega-Avalanche.
Pitted against the world’s best factory backed professional riders who enjoy dedicated team mechanics and personal trainers, the 19 year old only had his own resources to rely on during the arduous 8 month season, making his ranking even more impressive to finish 4th position in the overall World Series.
The Echo Newspaper awarded Callaghan "Sports Star of the Month" for May after the World Series visited Carick Mountain in Co. Wicklow. Over the seven mountainous stages Callaghan handled the home pressure with maturity beyond his years when he scooped victory in the Under 21 category by 0.080 seconds. On a day for the Irish to go down in the history books, Callaghan's win aboard the Northern Ireland Vitus brand also awarded the mighty Chain Reaction Cycles with their first ever Enduro World Series victory.
In July the teenager lined out against 3500 bikers in The Mega Avalanche descending the snow capped Les Alpe'Duez Mountain, carding the 8th fastest time.
Another top finish in the Italian village of La Thuille, before a Trans-Atlantic trip to Aspen, Colorado, where again he visited the podium with stunning 3rd placing ahead of Americas established riders. Despite mechanical problems in Canada he carded a 9th place finish in the treacherous Whistler Mountain Resort.
Locally Callaghan upgraded himself to the Pro Men division in the Gravity Ireland Series, starting the year with victory on Three Rock Mountain, going on to finish the season with runner up spot in the series,he also recorded a fourth place finish in the National Championships in Mount Leinster in August before he headed off to finish out his World Series campaign in Valberg France and Finale ,Italy.
The mountain biker is the only cyclist in the running this Thursday against local sports stars including Sailing’s Silver Medal Olympian Annalise Murphy.
Photo Credit Dermot Sweeney