Wicklow’s Ronan Dunne wins Hardline in Tasmania
AFTER watching her son Ronan win the Red Bull Hardline in Tasmania – often considered one of the most intense downhill bike races in the world – Riceal Dunne is starting to come to terms with the risks involved.
His dad Larry? Not so much. “I’m more comfortable. Larry can’t watch it at all. He is not able. I remember taking Ronan to downhill races and Larry telling Ronan to take it easy,” said Riceal.
“I went to Hardline last year in Wales and when I saw the jumps, some of the drops are 100ft. It is unbelievable.
“The ones in Tasmania, when I was talking to Ronan he was saying they were crazy. They were jumping over 50ft trees.”
For the 21-year-old from Ballyorney Farm, the win in Australia was the pinnacle of a career that is still so very young, having started mountain biking when he was only 13.
While his family comes from a horse breeding background, Ronan and his brother Anthony were more interested in a different kind of saddle.
“Downhill is like Formula 1 in the mountain bike world. Spectators go mad for it. When we go abroad racing, there could be 80,000 people at the races,” explained Riceal.
“We are in the horses business so I desperately tried pony club to get them riding. I got them both to a certain standard but they never had any interest.
“We would go to shows and he would hop off the pony to look at the bikes. Even when they were little, they were down the farm building ramps.”
Ronan’s training often involved trekking up and racing down the Djouce Mountain.
His dad Larry did own bikes growing up but for the purpose of getting from A to B. Ronan, meanwhile, was more competitively minded.
“I would bring him up to the top of Djouce and he would be down it in four minutes. I would drive down and bring him back to the top. We could do that 20 times a day. He is like a kid on it. Again, again, again,” Riceal added.
It may come as a surprise that, despite his dedication to and obsession with the sport, the most significant injury Ronan has sustained thus far was a fractured wrist last year.
This led to him missing the
World Championships in Scotland, while he was unable to defend his Irish national title.
This was merely a speed bump in a career that has grown from strength-to-strength since joining Continental Nukeproof in 2021 for his first year in Elite racing.
He was with the team until 2023 with the pinnacle being a second-place finish at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup series in Snowshoe, West Virginia last October.
Now with Mondraker, Dunne’s win in Tasmania sets him up for a promising 2024.
Currently training in New Zealand and with a Red Bull Hardline win under his belt, Ronan is next eyeing a UCI World Cup series win to prove himself among the very best.