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Last Updated: 2 Apr 2018 - 8:45:17 PM |
Strong Madison Racing Closes Action at 2016 UEC Track European Championships
By Cycling Ireland Media
23 Oct 2016,
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Sixth for Women and Eleventh for Men on Last Day of European Championships in Paris
In the inaugural Women’s Madison race at the 2016 UEC European Track Championships in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome in Paris Ireland’s pairing of Lydia Boylan and Lydia Gurley finished in seventh place.
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| Eoin Mullen in the Keirin event - (C) Copyright 2016 Guy Swarbrick |
Felix English and Fintan Ryan finished eleventh in the men’s equivalent. Thirteenth place for Eoin Mullen in the Keirin rounded up the action of the large and relatively new Irish team at the European Track Championships in 2016. While the championships this year feature many newer members on the Cycling Ireland track programme, Ireland has already seen success, with Anna Turvey winning Bronze in the Individual Pursuit on Friday. The championships ran from 19th – 23rd October in Paris.
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| Felix and Fintan Sling in the Madison event - (C) Copyright 2016 Guy Swarbrick |
While the Madison had been included in the men’s international race programme for the last number of years, this is the first year for it to be included on the women’s programme. The format of the Madison is an exciting one, whereby two riders compete for each nation; racing in a relay format the riders sling each other into action every couple of laps, taking turns to race the distance. There are also sprint points every ten laps, and the winning team is the team with most points. Boylan and Gurley secured 7 points in their 120 lap race, to finish seventh overall. English and Ryan had gained 8 points, but lost 20 when they were lapped, resulting in an eleventh place finish.
Cycling Ireland Technical Director Brian Nugent was happy with today’s racing saying “This was a new venture for us, competing in the Madison, so it was super to be able to be competitive today. The women did great, this was the first time that this competition has been there for them, and it’s a very technical event. After they settled in they really got going and you could see their fire power on both occasions when they went for the points. It’s important to have this event in the programme and it has a lot of potential for the future.
“Felix and Fintan started very well but faded as the race reached the closing stages. 50km is a long way and we’ll have to work on the distance for this event. David [Muntaner – track coach] has done a lot of work with these guys, and as a former World Champion, they were learning from the best. David will move them again.”
This has been a good European Championships for Ireland with newer members of the Cycling Ireland track programme gaining a lot from top level race exposure. Nugent is satisfied that the programme is on track; “Our main aim for these championships were for our team to gain experience and exposure to international championship competition with our more experienced riders challenging for top positions. We achieved both these targets and also came away with a bronze medal and a few national records. It’s been a good overall team performance and a lot of people stepped up to the mark this week. It’s been an encouraging start to the new four year cycle.”
Next up for the Irish track team is the first track cycling World Cup in Glasgow from the 4-6 November. There are three World Cups and the World Championships, which take place in Hong Kong from the 12-16 April 2017.
FULL IRISH RESULTS
19th Oct
Women’s Team Pursuit: Boylan,Burns,Gurley,Turvey 8 – 4.40.347
Women’s 500 TT: Eimear Moran 14 – 37.296
Women’s 500 TT: Robyn Stewart 12 – 36.663
Women’s Elimination: Lydia Gurley 15
Men’s Scratch Race: Felix English 5
20th Oct
Women’s Team Pursuit: Boylan,Burns,Gurley,Turvey 8 – 4.43.802
Women’s Team Sprint: Robyn Stewart 9 – 3.36.638
Women’s Team Sprint: Eimear Moran 9 – 3.36.638
Women’s Scratch Race: Lydia Boylan 14
Men’s Elimination Race: Fintan Ryan 8
21st Oct
Men’s Sprint: Eoin Mullen 21 – 10.160
Men’s Omnium: Felix English 7
Women’s Keirin: Shannon McCurley 10
Women’s Keirin: Eimear Moran 13
Women’s Individual Pursuit: Eileen Burns 21 – 3.50.618
Women’s Individual Pursuit: Anna Turvey 3 – 3.36.017
Women’s Points Race: Lydia Gurley 15
22nd Oct
Women’s Sprint: Robyn Stewart 13 – 11.59 (NR)
Women’s Omnium: Lydia Boylan 6
Men’s Points Race: Marc Potts 12
Men’s Individual Pursuit: Marc Potts 27 – 4.33.877
23rd Oct
Men’s Keirin: Eoin Mullen 13
Women’s Madison: Lydia Boylan 7
Women’s Madison: Lydia Gurley 7
Men’s Madison: Felix English 11
Men’s Madison: Fintan Ryan 11
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22nd October 2016
Sixth in Omnium for Boylan at 2016 UEC Track European Championships
On the penultimate day of racing at the 2016 UEC European Track Championships in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome in Paris Lydia Boylan performed outstandingly in the Women’s Omnium, finishing in 6th place, in a race where she lapped the field in the final Points race. Robyn Stewart finished 13th in the Women’s Sprint with a time of 11.590 seconds, a time more than .6 of a second faster than the existing record of 12.25 Unfortunately only the top 12 progressed to the knock out rounds. In the Women’s Omnium Marc Potts was also in action today, finishing 12th in the Points Race and 21st in the Individual Pursuit with a time of 4.33.877. While the European Track Championships this year feature many newer members on the Cycling Ireland track programme, Ireland has already seen success, with Anna Turvey winning Bronze in the Individual Pursuit yesterday. The championships run from 19th – 23rd October in Paris.
Boylan attributed her result to her legs today saying “I was on a good day today. The whole day I had really good legs and felt on top of the gears, so all I had to worry about was just doing the right thing in the race. A few things clicked into place today; the elimination race was the best that I have ridden. And that’s the first time that I’ve taken a solo lap in the Points Race! At first I was just going for the sprint points, but then the bunch sat up and I went for the lap. I worked hard to get to the end of the bunch, but the lead riders were marking each other, so I knew I could stay in when I got there. After finishing 16th and 17th in this event last year, it’s great to finish 6th – my confidence is really growing in it.”
Cycling Ireland Technical Director Brian Nugent is pleased with how the riders performed today, and is happy with how the week has been going; “Lydia performed great today – she rode well in all four events, and was just super in the last one when she lapped the field alone. She’s really coming into her own at this level, sixth in Europe is a great result in this very competitive Olympic event. The new format is working well for us.”
Yesterday saw Ireland on the podium, with Anna Turvey winning bronze in the Individual Pursuit. Nugent was impressed with her race, and felt the whole team competed well; “It was great watching Anna win the bronze – she came straight from the Worlds at Doha to race at these championships and adapted extremely well. After her strong ride in the Team Pursuit we knew a top five performance was on the cards, but getting on the podium was a real bonus.
“Yesterday was a busy one for us, and we had a string of great performances, Shannon [McCurley] was tenth in the Keirin and she raced well –her best result at this level, and it’s a great way to open her campaign for Tokyo. I was really impressed with Felix [English] in the Men’s Omnium to finish 7th. He’s very competitive at this level now.”
Tomorrow is the final day of racing with Eoin Mullen competing in the Keirin. For the first time Ireland will be entering teams in the Madison, with Lydia Boylan and Lydia Gurley competing in the women’s event and Felix English and Marc Potts in the men’s event. The European Track Championships have been taking place since Wednesday 19th October.
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