This weekend the Irish Track Team is competing in the Glasgow at the first Track Cycling World Cup in the 2016/2017 season, in Glasgow, Scotland. The first day of racing in the three day event saw sprinter Eoin Mullen finish 27th with a qualifying time of 10.283 and the Women’s Team Pursuit finish tenth in a time of 4.42.204.
Ireland’s first female track cycling Olympian Shannon McCurley was competing in the Keirin, where she romped home in 7th place, winning the minor final for 7th – 12th place. This is the first World Cup on the calendar and takes place in the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow from the 4-6 November.
Cycling Ireland Technical Director Brian Nugent outlined the objectives for the team in Glasgow saying “Shannon raced very well winning her final and finishing 7th. This is her best result at this level; she’s jumped a level since racing at the Olympics and showed that again today.”
“For these early World Cups the main focus is on integrating the new members into the team and securing world’s qualification early on. We are down a few key riders in the Team Pursuit, so with a new line up out there, I’m pleased with the team’s performance and that new riders are getting the opportunity to gain experience.”
The UCI recently announced changes to the UCI track racing calendar, which saw both a change in the schedule of racing and the introduction of a new system of qualification for World Championships.
In terms of qualifying for the World Championships Ireland must enter a team in each of the four World Cups, but this does not need to be a full team. World Championship qualification is based on world ranking as well as presence of an Irish team at each of these events, along with competing at the European Championships.
Nugent is happy with the new qualification process: “The changes suit us a lot more than the previous qualification system. It puts less pressure on us financially and also allows us to focus better on the progression of the rider with the Worlds as the focus, rather than chasing qualification points in all the World Cups.”
The race programme at events now includes the Women’s Madison event for the first time, in a move to bring a gender balance to the number of medals being presented at the World Championships. The structure of the relatively new Omnium event was also altered, to focus solely on bunch events, favouring the endurance rider, with four races being contested on one day, as opposed to six events across two days of racing.
