About

Back 2 the Future

First and foremost, it’s great to see permission being granted to allow cyclists the use of this wonderful and beautiful area. Well done to all involved in achieving this major step.

The early days were uncomplicated. No choice of bikes, no different wheel sizes, no setting suspensions, no disc brakes, no elbow/ knee pads, but it was a level playing field.

My first memory of Mullaghmeen starts in August ’94. I had began biking in Dublin and had spent a bit of time around Three Rock and Fairy Castle. On August Bank Holiday weekends, Navan Road Club used to run a biking event around Mountnugent. An MTB Downhill was ran in Mullaghmeen on Saturday with a road race (G.P.) held around the village that evening. Sunday was XC day in Mullaghmeen and a course was marked and cleared by the First Trail Builders- The Murray’s with the help of their dad, Tom, R.I.P.

Mullaghmeen was always popular as MTB venues were scarce, and it was also held in high regards as an impressive natural area. Therefore, the event drew entries from a wide area. Several different clubs from Dublin, Wicklow, Louth, and Northern Ireland would regularly be seen. Among them were the cream of the crop; future National and World Champion riders fighting it out for the podium including Robin Seymour, Joe McCaul, Julian Dalby. And not forgetting the ladies; Jenny Brennan and Tarja Owens.

The biggest problem riders had was actually finding the place! At that time the regular entrance was at Halfcarton so trying to direct riders to a gate in hedge in the middle of nowhere was rather tricky. Therefore, riders that entered the Downhill on Saturday had an advantage in knowing where to go on Sunday as long as they had managed to remain in one piece while taking on the famous “Wall” on Day 1! Although not being overly technical, the problem was slowing down to make the right 90 at the bottom and many a bike, rider and an odd tree fell victim! As there wasn’t a regular upper part to the Wall for the downhill, a rough fresh track was cleared only that morning by the Murrays with clippers and bill hooks.

As the sport gained popularity, the forest was used mainly for XC races and was regularly used as part of the National Points Series. Downhill racing also grew and subsequently moved on to bigger, more technical centres. Yet, Mullaghmeen continued to be a great training ground for local riders who drifted into Downhill. Amongst these were Tom and Alan Clogher, who ran a sponsored Downhill team and were no strangers on the British Downhill Series and also further afield in France and Italy.

Riders from the Castlepollard and Mullingar areas can be credited with building some of the more modern Enduro style trails that now exist.

Altogether, it is a place filled with great times, countless memories and hopefully many more to come as I for one am not done yet!