By Brian Canty
Cycling Ireland CEO Geoff Liffey has hailed the efforts of Ireland’s riders in 2013 and said he looked forward to more of the same in the coming year.
Speaking to Damian O’Meara on “FM’s ‘GameOne’ programme last night, Liffey said the huge upsurge in Cycling Ireland membership also bodes well for the future of the sport at home.
“Certainly at the start of year if you had said we’d have had as much success on the road and on the track no one would have believed you,” said Liffey.
“Martyn Irvine winning the Track World Championships early in march for the first time in 116 years, and the success of the WorldTour riders Dan (Martin) in the Tour and Liege as well as Catalunya, Nicolas Roche in the Vuelta and even the emergence of the younger guys too, it’s been a great year for Irish cycling.
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“But there’s more to come I feel and with the Giro d’Italia coming next year there’ll be Irish riders competing in it and next year we’ll also be hosting the European mountain biking Championships for the first time ever in Ballyhoura so there’s new things for people to look at.”
Indeed, with the sport currently enjoying something of a boom period, Liffey admitted he has been blown away by the numbers he sees currently seeking licences to race, as well as the volume of leisure cyclists coming into the sport.
“In the last four or five years we’ve seen our membership quadruple to just under 20,000 which is tremendous, it’s certainly at an all-time high at the moment. Anecdotally you’d see it at the weekend with more guys on the road going to work or on the road.”
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Liffey will be hoping two Irish riders in action over the coming days can help to keep the sport in the spotlight for a little longer in 2013, with Caroline Ryan and Eoin Mullen in action in Mexico.
“The main objective there is to secure qualification for the Track World Championships in Cali, Colombia in March. We would expect strong performances from Caroline as she’s been up there in the top five in the past, she’ll be close to a medal and though it’s at altitude she shouldn’t be daunted.
“And Eoin’s a new lad on the scene and is still learning so he’s just looking for progression.”
Despite all the good vibes, the sport has been dogged by scandal in 2013 with the Lance Armstrong affair becoming so public. And though he said it can be frustrating seeing scandal, instead of success stories in the news, Liffey can appreciate it too.
“Sometimes it is (frustrating) but they’re big stories. There’s a lot of media interest, particularly this year there was a lot coming out that people focused on.
“But people need to see that the sport is moving in the right direction. There’s more to come on the Lance Armstrong story, I don’t think by any means it’s in its final chapters. There’s more going to come out but you just have to deal with it as it comes up.”
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