Omagh pair power Ireland to top 10 finish at Trophy of Nations

TWO Tyrone racers were part of Ireland’s three man team who finished in a superb eighth place overall at the Enduro World Series’ Trophy of Nations event in Italy last week.

Omagh pair, Kelan Grant and Gary Donaldson teamed up with Irish National champion Greg Callaghan for the event in Finale Ligure where they took on the world’s best racers as national teams rather than on an individual basis.

Grant and Callaghan are old hands on the world stage, being professional racers, but for Donaldson, who works as a community coach for Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, this was his first taste of the ‘Trophy’ and it’s one he savoured fully.

“It was a weekend to remember, it was cool,” Donaldson beamed. “It was a real good atmosphere and the eight placed finish was hard-fought!”

The event consisted of a practice day on the Friday when racers get the chance to explore the five stages, much like a recce for a car rally, so they can navigate them safely and high speed during race day, which took place on the Sunday. Their day off, the Saturday, was spent reviewing Go Pro footage of the practice runs so they were dialled in for the following morning.

The Sunday saw competitors tackle the five challenging stages once each when racers tried to finish as high up the standings as possible to earn points for their nations in order to win the ‘Trophy’ title.

Ahead of the event, Donaldson had hoped beyond hope that a top 10 finish would be possible and even after a disappointing run on stage one when he crashed, having succumbed to some nerves, but he was delighted to have achieved his goal and to claim 37th placed individual overall, just behind Grant in 25th, while Callaghan excelled in 9th.

“I’m absolutely chuffed, really, really happy with that because to come top 100 in those events is a big achievement,” he beamed.

“But when you’re in that environment, riding with a top 10 rider, it pulls you along so much.

“I must admit, I totally, massively felt the pressure at the start of Sunday and I made a mess of the first stage when I crashed but when I came down Kelan and Greg were straight away telling me I had done a good job and pointed out that everyone else was struggling too.

“So from then on I enjoyed it, I realised they weren’t putting any pressure on me, it was perfect, and it was a much better day from then and we handled everything that came our way.”

Next season, Donaldson, who impressed at the five day Trans Madeira race the week before his trip to Italy, is hoping to tackle more events of that ilk, which see racers traversing longer distances than what is experienced at Enduro World Series events.

“I think I’m going to maybe target more of the longer races similar to the Trans Madeira and maybe make a name for myself in that style of racing because it’s a bit more niche and working full-time you kind of want to get a holiday out of it and those are more of an adventure and an experience-style event,” he concluded.