REID 33RD IN DH WORLD CUP

Promising young Irish downhiller Ben Reid finished a fine 33rd out of a total starting lineup of 120 riders in the eighth and final round of the UCI Downhill World Cup series in Fort William, Scotland, over the weekend. Best time went to British rider Steve Peat, who covered the course in 4 minutes 11.44 seconds. Reid did a 4 minutes 30.39 ride, with Gerard Wolfe (67th), Daniel Wolfe (68th) and John Lawlor (73rd) also going in the finals.

A number of other Irish riders also entered but didn�t progress past the semi-final stage. Reid and Glyn O�Brien also did the 4 cross racing, finishing 32nd and 43rd respectively. Leiv Ove Nordmark of Norway was quickest.

Reid and Jamie Popham finished 60th and 77th overall in the final world cup standings. South African Greg Minnaar won ahead of Australian duo Samuel Hill and Nathan Rennie.

Meanwhile Jenny McCauley finished a solid 24th in the final round of the women�s cross-country series on Saturday. She was 63rd in the overall standings. Tarja Owens also lined out in the race but she suffered a mechanical problem shortly after the start and had to pull out.

�On the first climb I got a stick caught in my rear mech,� she said. �I couldn�t stop in time and it was totally bent. My race was over after 5 minutes�it was really bad luck.�

Robin Seymour finished 49th in the Elite men�s event, completing the distance in a time 13 minutes and 37 seconds behind that of Ralph Naef (Multivan Merida Biking Team). Niall Davis and Lewis Ferguson were 75th and 86th respectively, while Richie McCauley did not finish.



MTB World Cup, Fort William, Scotland:

Race 1, Women�s cross-country:

1 Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan Merida Biking Team) 1 hour 53 mins 17 secs
2 Sabine Spitz (Specialized Factory Racing) at 5 mins 6 secs
3 Irina Kalentieva (Multivan Merida Biking Team) at 5 mins 45 secs
4 Petra Henzi (Fischer-Bmc) at 5 mins 46 secs
5 Nina G�hl (Multivan Merida Biking Team) at 5 mins 49 secs
6 Kiara Bisaro (Canada) at 6 mins

Irish:

24, Jenny McCauley (Ireland) at 21 mins 37 secs
DNF: Tarja Owens (Ireland)


Final World Cup standings:

1, Gunn-Rita Dahle (Nor) 1900 pts
2, Sabine Spitz (Ger) 1460
3 Marie-H�l�ne Premont (Can)1220
4, Irina Kalentieva (Rus) 905
5, Mary McConneloug (USA) 750
6, Yvonne Kraft (Ger) 668

Irish:

63, Jenny McCauley, 98
136, Beth McCluskey, 31



Race 2, men�s cross-country:

1, Ralph Naef (Multivan Merida Biking Team) 2 hours 2 mins 36 secs
2, Christoph Sauser (Siemens Cannondale Mtb Racing Team) at 1 sec
3, Fredrik Kessiakoff (Siemens Cannondale Mtb Racing Team) at 43 secs
4, Jose Hermida Ramos (Multivan Merida Biking Team) at 1 min 12 secs
5, Julien Absalon (Bianchi Agos) at 1 min 50 secs
6, Bart Brentjens (Giant-Racing-Team) at 2 mins 35 secs

Irish:

49, Robin Seymour (Ireland) at 13 mins 37 secs
75, Niall Davis (Ireland) at 24 mins 44 secs
86, Lewis Ferguson (Ireland) at 2 laps
DNF: Richard McCauley (Ireland)

Final World Cup standings

1 Christoph Sauser (Swi) 1470 pts
2 Jose Antonio Hermida Ramos (Spa) 1085
3 Julien Absalon (Fra) 859
4 Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) 852
5 Roel Paulissen (Bel) 845
6 Ralph Naef (Swi) 698

Irish:

184, Seymour, 27
249, Field, 8
272, Davis, 1



DOWNHILL

Elite Men:

1, Steve Peat (GBr) 4.11.44
2, Greg Minnaar (RSA) 4.13.57
3, Nathan Rennie (Aus) 4.14.83
4, Chris Kovarik (Aus) 4.15.76
5, Gee Atherton (GBr) 4.16.06

Irish:

33, Ben Reid, 4.30.39
67, Gerard Wolfe, 4.44.55
68, Daniel Wolfe, 4.45.20
73, John Lawlor, 4.56.46

Semi finals (didn�t qualify for finals)

84, Glyn O�Brien, 4.47.92
90, Andrew Smith, 4.52.41
97, Thomas Power, 4.56.45
98, Richard Smith, 4.58.97
103, Michael Cowan, 5.03.08
104, Dale McMullen, 5.03.19
106, Jamie Popham, 5.21.17
107, Greg O�Keefe, 5.33.55


Final World Cup standings, downhill:

1, Greg Minnaar (RSA) 1660 pts
2, Samuel Hill (Aus) 905
3, Nathan Rennie (Aus) 890
4, C�dric Gracia (Fra) 735
5, George Atherton (GBr) 722
6, Fabien Barel (Fra) 714

Irish:

60, Ben Reid (Irl) 40
77, Jamie Popham (Irl) 26

4X Men Results

1, Leiv Ove Nordmark (Norway) 25.54
2, Brian Lopes, (USA) 24.83
3, Gee Atherton (Great Britain) 24.52
4, Guido Tschugg (Germany) 25.06
5, Greg Minnaar (Team G-Cross Honda) 25.31
6, Damien Godet (France) 26.05

Irish:

32, Reid, 27.05
43, O�Brien, 27.12



Women:

1, Tracy Moseley (GBr) 4.59.97
2, Rachel Atherton (GBr) 5.00.89
3, Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) 5.02.02
4, Kathy Pruitt (USA) 5.02.50
5, Vanessa Quin (NZl) 5.04.62
6, Helen Gaskell (GBr) 5.06.76


Final World Cup standings:

1, Sabrina Jonnier (Fra) 1454 pts
2, Tracy Moseley (GBr) 1419
3, Rachel Atherton (GBr) 1115
4, Vanessa Quin (NZl) 1014
5, Marielle Saner (Swi) 1004
6, Helen Gaskell (GBr) 811