Cycling Ireland has made two coaching appointments at the top of the national governing body’s high performance programme. Neill Delahaye is promoted to the newly created role of head coach while Dan Henchy, a British coach, becomes the new national track cycling coach.
The appointments come after Iain Dyer, who built a formidable medal-winning record in British Cycling, was appointed to the position of Cycling Ireland high performance director earlier this year.
Delahaye is a well-known figure in Irish cycling, having been a top road rider and also having led Ireland’s Paracycling programme. He was singled out for praise in the Sport Ireland review of Ireland’s performance at the Paralympics, with many of those interviewed citing his input as crucial to the success of the programme.
Delahaye said he was “very pleased” to be offered the new position of head coach with Cycling Ireland.
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“It was a privilege coaching and leading the Paracycling team for the past nine years,” he said. “It was a successful period and I have been inspired by the achievements of the athletes during that time.
“I feel now is the right time to move into a new role with new challenges. I am looking forward to working with Iain and the team in the high performance unit and playing my part in helping to deliver on the ‘perform’ aspects of Cycling Ireland’s 2020-2024 strategy.”
Henchy has just begun his role as new national track cycling coach after spending seven years with British Cycling. Cycling Ireland said he coached riders to 13 Paralympic medals “as part of a team that topped the cycling medal table at both the Rio and Tokyo Paralympic Games”.
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Henchy said he was delighted to take on the new job with Cycling Ireland and was very keen to get working, with the Europeans, Worlds and 2014 Olympics now on all on the agenda.
“It's an exciting time to be joining the team with only two years until the Paris Olympic Games,” he said. “There have been some great results on the track already this year and I'm keen to hit the ground running and continue that progress. I also want to support the development of talented young Irish track riders and help them on their journey to being successful at the top level in years to come."
Dyer said he believed the two new appointments would strength the coaching capacity of the high performance programme, adding there were applications from around the world for the jobs.
“We felt that Neill had demonstrated the ability to lead a very successful programme and had good perspective of pathway development,” he said of Delahaye. “Having spent many years competing and coaching, Neill brings with him valuable insight and experience of working with clubs and the cycling community to develop and nurture talent from grassroots up to an elite level.”
Dyer said Henchy had “built up a fantastic record” with British Cycling and was now well place to add to Ireland’s programme.
“When I started, I recognised it was important to strengthen the high performance unit if we were to turn ourselves around quickly enough after Tokyo to mount a serious challenge and be competitive in Paris,” he said.
“The recent appointment of a high-performance admin manager was just the beginning. I was also pleased to welcome Martyn Irvine back into the coaching team and he is playing a pivotal role in developing our U23 riders.”
Martyn Irvine, the former world champion on the track, has also previously been announced as U23 programme lead while Nicholas Roche, former top road pro, has been contracted to work as director for the senior road squad.
