Cyclist Eileen Burns: Working full-time and racing can be a difficult mix, especially when you're riding on the international stage. Burns has now turned to crowdfunding to assist towards taking unpaid leave before the Commonwealth Games (Photo: Toby Watson)
Cyclist Eileen Burns crowdfunding for Commonwealth Games full-time stint
One of the best TT riders the home cycling scene has ever produced, Eileen Burns has turned to crowdfunding to help her race and train full-time.
Burns is the national TT champion and has been selected onto the Northern Ireland team for the Commonwealth Games.
In order to give herself the best possible chance on the Gold Coast at the Games in April, she has decided to go full-time for a period.
She works as an occupational therapist and has decided to take three months unpaid leave.
It creates one issue for anyone going down that same route; the loss of income.
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And because she is taking her unpaid leave to race and train, which can both be expensive, she has decided to turn to crowdfunding.
Eileen Burns launched her funding drive online last week. The Irish champion is seeking a relatively modest sum of £1,200.
Family, friends and her club mates in Ballymena Road Club are assisting her fundraising efforts; which her crowdfunding will be added to.
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It means the sum she is hoping to raise online is not huge.
She has already raised over £800 online. So let’s get that figure up to the full £1,200; you can find her page by following this link.
Burns is a rare breed in Irish cycling these days; a part-time rider who works full-time but can still win national titles and break records.
Road and track international Burns won the elite Irish TT crown in Wexford last June after a great performance in Wales two weeks earlier.
Eileen Burns rode Worlds
Riding a Welsh 25 mile TT on the R25-3H course at Aberdare she recorded a time of 52:47; the first time she has broken the 53 minute mark.
That was an emotional performance from her as her grandfather had just died before she started the race.
Last May she won the Welsh CA Time Trial Champs, riding the 25 mile test in 53:07.
And two weeks before that Burns took a top 10 in an international race in Holland.
She finished in 6th place in the 19.7km EPZ Omloop van Borsele TT (UCI 1.1). It was won by British champion Hayley Simmonds (Team WNT).
She has held multiple Irish TT records in the 10, 25 and 50 discipline.
And she also represented Ireland in the race against the clock at the World Road Championships in Bergen last year.
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