Red Bull Foxhunt 2018
© Sebastian Marko
MTB Enduro

Watch Greg Callaghan's epic Red Bull Foxhunt POV

Take a ride on-board with Ireland's No. 1 as he races 550 mountain bikers down Rostrevor.
Written by Ric McLaughlin
4 min readPublished on
Watch Greg Callaghan's POV from Red Bull Foxhunt 2018 here:

7 min

Watch Ireland No.1, Greg Callaghan's Red Bull Foxhunt POV

POV of MTB downhill rider Greg Callaghan at Red Bull Foxhunt

Dublin’s Greg Callaghan is a bit of a pedigree when it comes to the Red Bull Foxhunt. He won the race as a hound back in 2012, beating Gee Atherton in the process. Fast forward a few years and he’s now a fully signed member of the Cube Action Team, an Enduro World Series race winner and a Red Bull athlete.
Last weekend’s instalment of the race was Greg’s first year as a Fox and he managed to successfully navigate his way through the 550 or so strong field to come home 11th. We caught up with Greg to get the race action, straight from the Fox’s mouth:
How was your race run?
It was eventful. It was definitely eventful. I had a pretty decent start; I had a bit of a running line to get going then I was behind Gee on the climb. He knew that I was there and knew that I wanted to pass him so he made himself very wide and I couldn’t get passed! I was following him then I had a crash all by myself and got ridden over, like, literally ridden over. Got up, overtook the guy who had just ridden over me (he apologised which was very nice of him!). I carried on, picked off a few more people then Gee pulled a log out on to the track whilst I was mid-overtake on some other guy and the pair of us ended up in a heap. I got back up again, brake levers everywhere and then managed to beat Loïc in a sprint finish! So yeah, as I said, eventful!
Red Bull Foxhunt

Red Bull Foxhunt

© Duncan Philpott

And how was your first year as a Red Bull Foxhunt Fox?
It was class, it was as wild as I expected really. The race was carnage start to finish. I ended up 11th but most importantly I was just ahead of Loïc Bruni (laughs)!
Did it feel different from when you raced it as one of the pack?
Totally, yeah. It’s a completely different experience. When you’re in the pack all you want is to get the whole shot and to be the first into that first turn. When you’re a Fox all you want is to have all your limbs still attached after the first turn (laughs)!
It seems almost traditional now that you have a big battle with Loïc, is it interesting for you as an enduro rider to have him there?
It was actually deja vu this year, really. I had a few crashes and I could hear people shouting “Go on, Greg!” and then only a few seconds later shouting “Go on, Loïc!”. I was just like, “Oh God, here he comes…”. Last year we did that head-to-head race and we finished it neck-and-neck across the finish line. I came around the last corner this year, looked over my shoulder and saw exactly the same thing! All I saw was the World Champs jersey and I got my head down and we had another sprint to the line. It’s always cool to be riding with riders like Gee Atherton and Loïc and to be battling it out with them.
Red Bull Foxhunt 2018

Red Bull Foxhunt 2018

© Duncan Philpott

What is it that makes the Red Bull Foxhunt so special?
It’s a combination of a few things, I think. The format is totally unique - mass-start races happen everywhere but a mass-start race with that many amateurs taking on three pros is totally unique. There’s a completely different vibe too. You have the Irish craic all weekend, even during the race. Like someone can take you out during the race or you can completely clean someone out and they’ll just get up and shout “Wahey! Go on, Greg!”, they don’t really care! In so many other countries they might take it personally but in Ireland they just take that race for what it is and it’s really cool.