Overall, 2009 was a very successful year for Irish XC racing, with many clubs raising the standard of the NPS series to a level where the series needs to be in order to retain competetive interest and attract new riders.
It was good also to see new venues, such as Dixon Park in Belfast, Rossacroonaloo in Kerry and 3Rock in Dublin being used for the first time as NPS venues, thanks to the clubs for negotiating the new venues.

The Commission introduced several initiatives in 2009 to assist the clubs in running quality events, including purchase and configuration of laptop based registration timing, and results system, which was used to great benefit by many of the hosting clubs.

The Commission also facilitated and funded the use of chip timing system at several NPS races. Upon review and comparison of the chip system to the laptop system, it was decided that the recommended method for clubs in 2010 will be the use of the laptop system (in conjunction with a manual system) – as this is totally free of charge for clubs and has proved to be as effective & accurate as the chip timing system when used correctly.

Another area of improvement was in the use of web-based race registration system (from Active Europe) – use of a race registration system significantly reduced the admin overhead for clubs on race day, and will be recommended as a mandatory requirement for clubs hosting rounds of the NPS 2010.

The Irish XC website (www.irishxcmtb.com) was migrated to a new content-management system which is much easier and faster to edit, it allows comments/feedback from users, and also automatic news posting to club forums – thanks to Morgan O’Connell for all his work on this, the system also allows automatic news item posting to various forums to help improve communications to club members.

The Sports initiative introduced was designed to encourage experienced riders to race in their appropriate age category, while allowing Sports to resume it’s capacity as an introductory/beiginners category. This initiative was deemed to be very successful and will be continued into 2010.

Many clubs in 2009 demonstrated enthusiasm & capability by hosting very successful rounds of the NPS through co-operation with the Commission, and were willing and able to make improvements where needed – and these clubs who will be given priority selection for hosting rounds of the NPS in 2010.

Thanks to the 2009 XC NPS hosting clubs:

• Killarney CC
• MADMTB
• CuChulainn CC
• EPIC MTB
• Madigan CC
• XMTB
• Sorrento CC

Unfortunately, Banbridge had to cancel their round of the NPS due to issues in dealing with NI Forestry, and XMTB were required to secure a new venue for the same reason.

Non NPS XC events:
Thanks also to the clubs who ran national non-NPS XC race/challenge events in 2009 including;

• The XC Nationals hosted by Dromara CC
• The Cooley Thriller hosted by CuChulainn
• The MAD MAX-XC hosted by MADMTB
• The EPIC BLAST hosted by EPICMTB
• West Cork bike fest hosted by 021 Racing
• Djouce Challenge hosted by Team WORC
• The K-Capital Challenge events in Kilruddery, Carrick Mtn., and Kippure House supported by Team WORC and sponsored by K-Capital Source (Thanks to K-Capital Source & Mark Kenny for sponsoring multiple XC events this year)

Thanks also to other clubs who ran events not listed here.

Special recognition goes out to clubs for hosting challenge style MTB events such as the K-Capital series and fun crossover events such as the infamous EPIC Blast being unique in attracting large amounts of DH riders as well as XC riders.
More of these crossover events are required to expose DH and XC riders to the different disciplines and encourage cross-participation.

Note re; XC NPS event dates in 2010:
Preliminary NPS calendar event dates have been set by the Commission and clubs are requested to submit requests for these dates to hold their NPS event on.
Click here to view the XC Calendar.

Clubs should send an email to offroad.commission@gmail.com advising of their desired date.
The commission will then review all submissions and advise the clubs accordingly.

Where possible, dates will be negotiated between the clubs and the Commission (where there is flexibility) but the main intention is to have an evenly scheduled series of dates 2-3 weeks apart.
Since the Commission is concerned with increasing the numbers of riders attending Irish MTB NPS events, the NPS calendars will be scheduled where at all possible to avoid any clashes between Irish XC and DH events.

Regards
Fergal Kilkenny
XC Promoter/co-ordinator
Cycling Ireland Offroad Commission