By Tony Mairs
Saturday April 23rd saw the Junior Track Cycling National Championships taking place at Sundrive Velodrome in a thankfully dry day in Dublin. Twenty five of the fastest male and female Junior riders from all over Ireland battled it out each over the four separate track events with a lot of very fast racing to be seen!
First up was the 200m TT sprint qualifiers where the riders are timed over 200 metres at speed as they aim to qualify as fast as possible placing them in a better position for the later sprint rounds.
The Sprint finals were contested in a best of three head to head rounds were Shenna Mckiverigan of Powerhouse Sports came out on top in the girls beating Eimar Harrison into the silver position. Harvey Barnes of East Tyrone Cycling Club edged out Xeno Young (Powerhouse Sports) to take the boys Match Sprint crown.
The Pursuit which is a Time Trial contested over 2km for girls and 3km for the boys was a great test of the legs. The girls event was won by Shenna Mckiverigan (Powerhouse Sports) who managed to get the better of Nicole Gorry of Lakeside Wheelers. Xeno Young (Powerhouse Sports) took the honours beating Luke Smith of the Nicholas Roche Performance Team (NRPT).
The Track Time Trial which is basically a long timed sprint from a standing start which covers 500 meters for women and 1000 meters for men tests explosive power and speed endurance. The winner of the girls title was Shenna Mckiverigan and rounding out the podium was Nicole Gorry in Silver and Eimar Harrison in the Bronze position.
In the “Kilo” Luke Smith got the better of Silver medalist Cathal Purcell and Xeno Young in the notoriously hard lung-bursting one kilometre event.
The Scratch race is a short massed start race of 7.5 kilometres for women and 10 kilometres for men and is a super fast event not unlike a short flat criterium on the road. It can be nail biting and is an exciting one to watch by the track side.
Once again Shenna McKiverigan took the top prize over Silver medalist Shauna McFadden (NRTP) and Nicole Gorry taking Bronze. Nicholas Roche Performance Team’s Luke Smith was victorious over teammate Marc Heaney and Xeno Young gathering Bronze.
Shenna McKiverigan who rides for Powerhouse Sport was highly dominant and came away winning all four Jr women’s events and also the 200m TT National record along the way during the Sprint Qualifying. This was an exceptional performance from the young Ulster Women who already had several National Track titles to her name.
A huge thanks must go to the Track Commission, The Belgian Project who were on hand for photographs and video and also to everyone who made the event possible. Bravo! It was nice to see 2013 World Champion Martyn Irvine on hand to lend support at his home track.
It looks like this summer is shaping up to be a great season for track cycling, the senior season starts in June and runs into September with the top international two day event coming to Dublin on the 2nd and 3rd of July and the Senior National Championships taking place on the 27th and 28th August.
Photographs and Video by The Belgian Project https://www.flickr.com/photos/thebelgianproject/sets/72157665171318044/with/26517340612/
National records:
200m TT – 13.40s Shenna McKiverigan, Powerhouse Sports.
