News

Sunday April 27th saw the first ever Irish Adaptive Mountain Bike Race take place in Kinnitty, Co. Offaly.

As part of the Slieve Bloom Mountain Bike festival and Biking Blitz organised by Biking.ie and Coillte, five wheelchair users had the opportunity to take to the trails. The event was divided into two categories, with bike battery size of 1200w and 1000w being the dividing factor. The race took on an enduro format, with riders tackling five stages.

Adaptive mountain bike designer and Kinnitty native Noel Joyce took the win in the 1200w category ahead of Liam Casey.

The 1000w category was won by Declan Slevin, ahead of Rory Motherway in second and Ray Murnane in third.

Racing came on the second day of the festival, with day one featuring a come-and-try event, where wheelchair users were offered the opportunity to try out the adaptive mountain bikes. This event comes off the back of a joint enterprise between Sunday’s winner Noel Joyce, and Cycling Ireland, which saw five of Noel’s designed bikes built in the second half of 2024. These bikes will be left at trail centres around the country for wheelchair users to access, and will hopefully lead to more racing in the future.