In its fourth year, the Dublin Track Cycling International has embedded itself firmly on the international race calendar, with two days of world class racing taking place in Sundrive Track, Dublin on the 2-3 July.
The Dublin Track Cycling International is one of only two UCI International events on the Irish cycling calendar, along with the An Post Rás, and is used by riders to gain qualification points for the World Cup Series and World Championships later on in the year.
With this being the Olympic year, this year offers a great opportunity to see some of the top names in international cycling battle it out for medals and points in the centre of Dublin.
This event is supported by Dublin City Sport & Wellbeing Partnership, with the local interest likely to be on the competition between the young local riders who will be honing their bike skills in the Future Stars Programme in the coming weeks.
This year’s event has already attracted some of the world’s top riders, from Germany, Belgium and Italy, along with a strong Irish team. Track cycling is a discipline that Irish riders excel in, and the short fast races make it one of the most exciting cycling events for spectators.
Sundrive Track is located in Eamonn Ceannt Park in Dublin 12, and offers a unique opportunity for Irish based riders to test themselves against some of the top riders in the world.
At last year’s event, boosted by the home crowd, Caroline Ryan came home with gold in the Individual Pursuit, beating Scratch World Champion Kirsten Wild (NED) in doing so.
Ryan will be competing in the event this year, and looking back at last year’s race, she said “Last year the individual pursuit was my highlight, I raced against Kirsten Wild in the final, and came out with the gold medal in that, I was absolutely delighted. Kirsten is a fantastic rider and I’ve huge respect for her, she’s very strong.”
“We travel all over the world against top riders, and to have them to come here to Ireland, to your home ground where your friends and family can watch you race and cheer you on, it’s absolutely fantastic. It’s a really well run event, and great to see riders come back again and again to it. There’s not a lot events where you can measure exactly where you are.”
Dublin City Sport & Wellbeing Partnership is once again the funding partner of the Dublin Track Cycling International, and is delighted to be supporting the event.
Jim Beggan, head of Sport and Recreation in Dublin City Council said “We are very much looking forward to seeing Dublin Track Cycling International take to the Velodrome in Eamonn Ceannt Park. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our Parks department who work tirelessly throughout the year to maintain this unique facility.”
“The Future Stars programme is a real highlight for us and a fantastic opportunity for local young people to be involved. Best of luck to all who are competing in this exciting event.”
Cycling Ireland CEO Geoff Liffey welcomes one of the key events on the Cycling Ireland calendar.
“It’s great to have the backing of DCSWP with the event; their support helps elevate this event to world class standard. Each year the event is getting stronger and stronger, and credit must also go to the work of the Track Commission who put a huge amount of time into organising a top class competition.”
“The fact that world champions and top names on the cycling circuit come to this race year after year is a real stamp of approval and testament to the standard of racing and organisation at this event.”
Entry is free for spectators, with racing taking place all day on both Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd July. The full racing programme can be seen on www.trackcycling.ie.
