Latest news with #RonanDunne
BBC News
15-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Mountain bikers bid to conquer 'deepest, darkest Wales'
Gee Atherton attributes Wales' landscape as the most "impressive and intimidating" for building the Worlds hardest downhill racing track.A former World mountain bike downhill champion, Atherton is co-founder of Hardline – widely regarded as the hardest mountain bike race in the Hardline returns to the Dyfi Valley in mid Wales for its eleventh year on 26 JulyThe event see's the top female and male riders from around the world battle it out over two days to become the Hardline year Irish World Cup racer Ronan Dunne took the win and will be looking to defend his victory again this with his brother Dan, Gee Atherton designs and builds the track each year and also participates in the race, which he won in 2018 after a few unlucky years of mechanical faults on the track, had prevented him from finishing the race. "Every year I would be there and I would be close and either mechanicals or crashes or injuries," Gee Atherton said."I realised I was almost pushing too hard and I wanted this win too much and I almost had to kind of step back and calm myself down and think about it slightly differently."I managed to get my head around it and managed to take a win but it's not an easy event to win by any means, there's very few people that have won it multiple times."The event is often regarded as the hardest course in the World with only the top athletes invited to take part each event has one competition in Dinas Mawddwy, in Wales and one in Tasmania, with the Welsh clash known to be more challenging than its counterpart race."I mean, we've been all around the world riding and training and racing and looking for venues for these kind of events," Atherton added."And, you know, we've never found anywhere as impressive as intimidating as where it is here in Wales."I think it's that unique kind of feel you can only get from when you're in, you know, deepest, darkest Wales."Everything from the climate, the venue, the mountain, you know, everything is terrifying. So it's the best spot in the world for it." A competition so extreme, it must be difficult to test its safety?Mountain biking at this scale, built to test the very top of the worlds talent can only be tested by the riders themselves, as the only people with the skillset to complete the may be the only sport in the world that the guinea pigs are its own professionals right in the heart of a World Cup World Cup brothers, Dan and Gee will build and test the course before inviting other riders to test before the competition gets underway."It's difficult really, Dan and I, we've got this kind of agreement between us and we know how each other works and I'll suggest something and he'll say no that's too far, or that's a great idea," Atherton said."Often he will build something and I will have to test it so there's a lot of trust there between the two of us." I think we work well together, sometimes I'll have to test something that he's built and I'll have to trust that it's going to work 75% of the time it does and occasionally it doesn't."You're building the hardest track in the world, you're guinea pigging some of the biggest features anyone's ever hit on a bike, so it's very difficult to then decide yes this is okay or no we've gone too far you know we have to push the sport."We have to challenge the riders we have to be at that kind of that pinnacle that's forefront of what you can do on a mountain bike so each year the riders turn up and there's a new feature that's bigger and more difficult than the previous years."If you go too far with that, you know, if you push them too far, then the riders can risk getting injured, which, you know, does happen sometimes in testing. But at the same time, you know, you have to be ambitious. You have to push the sport along. And that's where that balance comes in. And you have to walk that very fine line."The three Atherton siblings are arguably mountain biking's most impressive family,From their own bike brand to a bike park as well as Gee, Dan and sister Rachel's vast World Cup winning records. The three have been in Wales since 2004, with Dyfi Bike Park established in 2010, creating a destination for mountain bikers from all of the world to test their skills."The talent that's developing, that's coming out of this area is incredible, riders onto the World Cup scene with quite impressive results," Gee Atherton said."We've been here a long time, we've developed a Bike Park here in Machynlleth which has helped put the area on the map."It's turning into one of the UK's biggest bike parks and getting busier and busier and it's just this huge mountain of the most unique, intimidating daunting, but incredible fun to ride trails."There's very few places you can find this kind of landscape and this kind of terrain that suits mountain biking so well."
Irish Independent
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Wicklow mountain biker returns to saddle for Red Bull Hardline in Wales
Two-time Red Bull Hardline champion, 23-year-old Wicklow man Ronan Dunne, leads a field of 32 riders as the mountain bikers for July's event in Wales was confirmed in recent days.
The Irish Sun
29-04-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Irish Red Bull star ‘fractured ribs & broke my collarbone' from brutal crash but jokes ‘horses scare me more than bikes'
PRIOR to February, Ronan Dunne's most severe injury in downhill mountain biking was a fractured wrist in 2023. More of a minor inconvenience than a significant blow, the Red Bull Mondraker cyclist was back in the saddle a couple of weeks later. 4 Ronan Dunne celebrates after coming fifth at the UCI Downhill World Cup in Loudenvielle in France in Spetember 2024 4 Ronan Dunne performs during practice at Red Bull Hardline in Maydena Bike Park, Tasmania, Australia 4 Ronan Dunne at UCI Downhill World Cup in Loudenvielle, France That was as bad as it got for the Enniskerry-native until this past February, when a more severe crash kept him out for seven weeks. He was in the heat of practice for the Tasmania leg of the Red Bull Hardline - a race he won in 2024 - when he came off his bike. There to break his fall was a large boulder to the right side of the track, with which the 23-year-old collided back-first. He explained to SunSport: "I was grand and not too grand. Read More on Red Bull "I broke a few vertebrae in my back and my pelvis, my collarbone. I think I fractured a few ribs." If you think a few broken ribs and a broken collarbone were going to stop him doing what he loves, guess again. He insisted: "It wasn't the best of experiences but it happens to everyone. It is part of the game. I'm sure there'll be more. "It's just good I got it on video , I suppose. That was nice ." Most read in Cycling Dunne posted the video in question, captured from the perspective of a trackside spectator, to At around the same time, he had texted his mum and dad over Max Verstappen snaps at Sky Sports broadcaster as he addresses Red Bull future He added: "I posted the video straight after it. "I think I just got a pretty heavy shot of morphine so I was like, 'ah, I'll post this video, this is sick!'" That crash was but a speedbump for the Wales this summer . Dunne won both races in 2024, either side of a UCI Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup victory in Poland that May. "I like horses but I don't go near them. They scare me more than bikes. They're terrifying yolks!" They were three landmark achievements in a career that started in earnest when he was just 13, living at his family home in Enniskerry. Both he and his brother Anthony were avid cyclists, despite their mum Riceal trying to get them into pony-riding. They were surrounded by horses at their home in Ballyorney Farm, but it was to the nearby Djouce Mountain that Ronan would retreat. He said: "I live just over in Enniskerry so it's actually right at the foothills of the mountains, "I've always just loved bikes and it's just great craic, really. I just love going downhill fast and it's as simple as that. "I know a lot of other athletes have so much more behind it I just enjoy going downhill fast on my bike. "It's the only sport I've ever done. "In school I did rugby for a year, or not even a year, because it was a rugby school and I was shocking. "It's the only thing I've been pretty good at, so I think I just stick to what I know." HUMBLE BEGINNINGS His mum's attempts to get him and his brother into pony club proved unsuccessful, but not just because of Ronan's preference towards bikes. Ronan laughed: "Yeah, that didn't last too long. "I like horses but I don't go near them. They scare me more than bikes. They're terrifying yolks!" Competitive by nature, Dunne won a few Irish national titles as a junior mountain biker, but was limited by a relative lack of resources. While opponents in the UK and Europe have an abundance of bike parks and ski resorts at which to train, Dunne's port of call was the Djouce or Glencullen Park. But that was all he needed, insisting: "You don't have to pack a car or pack a van to go ride. "You literally just cycle up the road and you're where you work , so it's pretty handy." 4 Ronan Dunne during seeding at Red Bull Hardline in Maydena Bike Park, Tasmania, Australia Ronan turned elite in 2021 with Continental Nukeproof and spent two years with the team. The pinnacle of this time was a second placed finish at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Snowshoe, USA in October 2023. He signed with Red Bull Mondraker in 2024, a step which corresponded with his landmark treble that same year. First was his Hardline win in Australia that February, followed by his first World Cup win in Poland in May. And he followed that up with victory in Wales just a month later, while he finished fourth overall in the World Cup standings. He is keen on improving on that placing when the new season kicks off in Bielsko-Biała - the site of his first ever win - on May 16. And when Hardline returns to Wales in July, Dunne has his eyes on getting back what is his. "[2024] was a dream year, really. "To win a World Cup is pretty savage. I kind of thought it would happen but not that early so it was pretty amazing. "My aim is to be for a better overall in the World Cups. To try and get a top three would be amazing. "My fitness is coming back and even with the Hardline crashing, I was still happy on how my pace was before the crash. "It'd be nice to come back for Hardline Wales. I will definitely be looking forward for that one as well and trying to get back that title." Red Bull Hardline is taking place 26th & 27th July in Wales and can be streamed live on Red Bull TV
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
A Huge Crash Can't Hold Ronan Dunne Back
After a massive crash sidelined Ronan Dunne at Red Bull Hardline Tasmania earlier this year, it's fantastic to see that the incident didn't slow him down at all and he's back to his usual flat-out, full-speed shenanigans. Related: The Biggest Crashes From Red Bull Hardline Tasmania 2025 View the original article to see embedded media. Footage posted of him riding the old at the Andorra World Cup Downhill track at blistering speeds shows that the formidable crash in Tasmania has not taken the wind out of his sails for the upcoming race season. The clip is just over two and a half minutes and shows Dunne absolutely smashing the course in typical fashion with a few expletives thrown in for good measure. After watching the clip back-to-back a few times, it just becomes more impressive to watch Ronan navigate what many herald as the best World Cup DH track of all time. Watch the Insane Footage Below Dunne posted a clip to social media around the same time that the YouTube video was published, echoing the sentiment and proclaiming, 'Best track for it.' Ronan Dunne is undoubtedly a man of few words and prefers to let his riding do the talking. Advertisement After only eight weeks off the bike, Ronan Dunne took to Instagram with a reel showing he was back to his old ways, already dusting off the cobwebs. Even Matt Jones, who witnessed and helped Dunne off the track at Hardline, can barely believe what they are seeing. "Hahaha, I carried you off track on a spinal board smashed to pieces a few weeks ago," commented Matt Jones on a clip Ronan posted a couple of weeks ago. View the original article to see embedded media. This Irishman is definitely one of the top contenders going into the 2025 UCI World Cup race season, and I think we're all glad to see the crash didn't set him back much, if at all.
