Youngster Elliott McKeegan and George Sevastopulo made an early impact, taking second and fourth in a field of 18 riders in the Points race qualifier for the Men’s Junior Omnium. Max Fitzgerald and Philip O’Connor got their weekend underway in the second heat of the same competition, finishing 12th and 16th respectively.
O’Connor found himself battling for a podium in the Junior Men’s Points Race however, but just missed out, finishing fourth behind a strong top three.
Three junior riders got amongst it in the Junior Men’s Scratch race. George Sevastopulo was the top Irish rider, finishing eighth. He was joined by Max Fitzgerald in 10th and Elliott McKeegan in 19th.
Mia Griffin was another rider battling for a podium on the first day, but the Irish representative was just pipped in the Elite Women’s Points race as she took fourth. Erin Creighton, the only other Irish rider in the race event took 23rd.
Mya Doocey and Rhiannon Dolan got the team events underway as they rode together in the Junior Women’s Madison, finishing 9th overall.
The Tempo race in the Junior Men’s Omnium event saw more strong performances from riders in green, as Max Fitzgerald took 10th, followed closely by George Sevastopulo in 11th, with Elliott McKeegan following in 19th.
The trio followed this up with the Elimination race, where Sevastopulo was highest placed Irish rider in 15th, followed by Fitzgerald in 17th and McKeegan in 19th.
McKeegan unfortunately did not start the Points race in the Omnium, but teammate Sevastopulo took ninth, ahead of Fitzgerald in 17th.
The Elite Women’s Elimination race saw Emma Jeffers finish 21st in a strong field, that started at 40 riders. Erin Creighton was one of the riders who missed out on the finals, narrowly missing the cut off in the qualifying round.
Oisin Ferrity and Stefan Caulfield-Dreier missed out on a place in the final of the U23 Points race, finishing 17th and 19th respectively in their qualifying round.
The Junior Women’s Omnium opened with a Scratch event, and saw Rhiannon Dolan take 14th, with Mya Doocey following in 21st. Doocey came into her own in the Tempo race in the Omnium, taking eighth, with Dolan also improving on her earlier result, finishing 11th. The pair were on track again for the Omnium’s Elimination, where Dolan took ninth, ahead of Doocey in 19th. Dolan ended the day with a top 10 in the overall Omnium standings, while Doocey took 19th.
Philip O’Connor and Max Fitzgerald were the Irish representatives in the Junior Men’s Madison, and came across the line in ninth.
Mia Griffin was amongst the action for the Scratch event in the Elite Women’s Omnium, and took seventh. Griffin remained in the top 10 in the Tempo event, taking eighth. The Elimination race saw Griffin finish 21st in a race that saw several favourites caught out early. Her performance across the day saw Griffin finish out the day in sixth overall.
Another large field in the Men’s Elite Elimination event saw Irish riders miss out, as Oisin Ferrity and Stefan Caulfield-Dreier finished 14th and 17th in their respective qualifiers.
Griffin was on track again for the Women’s Elite Scratch on the final day of racing. She took fifth in the final.
Oisin Ferrity was hoping to follow Griffin’s lead in the Elite Men’s Scratch, but fell victim to a crash that left six riders with a DNF.
The Elite Women’s Madison saw Griffin and Creighton join forces once again. The pair put in another strong performance but narrowly missed out on a podium place, finishing fourth.
Stefan Caulfield-Dreier found himself paired with Dutch rider Sten Verzijl for the Elite Men’s Madison, but the pair could only muster an 11th place finish.
Results from all three days are available here:
Day 1 - click here
Day 2 - click here
Day 3 - click here
Irish Team of 11 Set for Belgian Track International
Issued April 16th:
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The event will see a combination of experience and young talent, as both Senior and Junior riders take to the track.
2024 Olympians Mia Griffin and Erin Creighton make a return to the track. Griffin has gotten her road season off to a flying start, and recently took a stage of the Tour of El Salvador. Creighton comes into this event having most recently put in a strong performance at the Track Nations Cup in Turkey in March.
The two Olympians will be joined by Emma Jeffers, who made her debut for Ireland on the track earlier this year.
Stefan Caulfield-Dreier
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Having represented Ireland at the 2024 Junior Track World Championships in China, Rhiannon Dolan makes another appearance in green this weekend. Dolan will be joined in the junior racing by Mya Doocey. The pair previously combined at this event in 2024 for the Madison event.
Four male riders will ride for Ireland in the Junior ranks. Having broken the junior national kilo record riding in green in Apeldoorn in January, Max Fitzgerald will no doubt be excited to get back on track. 2023 European Youth Olympic Festival athlete Philip O’Connor has found early success on the road domestically this year, taking the win in the C1 category at the Galway Classic, beating out some extremely experienced competition.
George Sevastopolu made his debut for Ireland in Apeldoorn in January, having cut his teeth on the track at Sundrive. Elliot McKeegan rounds out the Irish contingent for this event, having also ridden in Apeldoorn in January, and gotten plenty of track time under his belt since in Scotland and Wales.
Track Head Coach Dan Henchy said: “The Belgian International is always one of the most competitive and best supported races on the track calendar and this year is no different with 266 riders from 23 different countries on the start list. It’s an event where the senior and junior riders get to compete side by side. To have our Olympians and pathway riders sharing a pit and learning from each other is a valuable opportunity. We’ll be looking for some strong performances as we build towards the championship events in the second half of 2025.”
Racing gets underway on Friday April 18th and will run right through to Sunday April 20th.
The event will be livestreamed - To view - click here