The Irish track team's path towards Olympic qualification for Paris 2024 gets underway late this month with the national squad takes on the first UCI World Cup meeting of the season in Glasgow.
They do so under new management as there have been a huge number of departures from Cycling Ireland over the last 12 to 18 months, with a very significant loss of experience. But now British coach Iain Dyer has taken over as high performance director.
It will be Dyer's job to get the show back on the road and make sure recent events at Cycling Ireland board level - which we will be returning to in detail in the weeks ahead - do not undermine the riders' preparation or performance as they strive to make the Paris Games.
“The whole team is looking forward to Glasgow Nations Cup. After an unusual Covid-affected season last year, it feels that we’re all finally embarking on the new look UCI track season now,” said Dyer, who left British Cycling last year after the Olympics and after 21 years with the federation.
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“Glasgow always puts on a great event, so it’s a good one to start with as we aim to build through the year towards European Championships in Munich in August, and World Championships in Paris in October.”
At the Glasgow World Cup, starting on April 21st, the women's team squad will be in action. Emily Kay, Alice Sharpe, Mia Griffin and Kelly Murphy will once again form the line-up. They will be looking to build on the progress they have made in recent seasons as they embark on a journey that will hopefully lead them to the Games.
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Last year they won an historic first team pursuit medal for Ireland at the Europeans in Switzerland. Lara Gillespie is a noted absentee from the set-up and the prolific medal winner will hopefully be back in the months ahead and is now continuing to recover from injuries.
Added to the four pursuiters, two men have also been selected for endurance and sprint events in Glasgow, namely Conor Rowley and JB Murphy.
Australian-born Rowley has been racing and training in both Australia and in the Irish camp in Majorca in recent months. In February he did 9.969 in the flying 200 at the Victorian State Championships. His appearance in Glasgow will be his Ireland debut and he will ride the keirin and sprint events.
Murphy, a road and track international, has impressed every year since his junior days and has medals at the junior track Europeans and Worlds on his palmares. Last year the Kildare man made a big breakthrough when he claimed bronze in the scratch race at the elite European Track Championships in Switzerland.
Murphy will compete in a range of endurance events, not yet confirmed, in Glasgow while the four women in the team pursuit line-up will also take on individual endurance events at the World Cup meeting.
We'll have more closer to the time.
