Ryan Mullen is in record breaking mood of late
Irish international Ryan Mullen (Planet X) has continued to rip up the Irish and British record books, breaking the junior 10 mile TT record for both nations while riding in the UK at the weekend.
The Planet X rider clocked an eye-watering time for a 17-year-old; 19:01.
He told stickybottle he clocked 18:57 on his own bike and believes that was the correct time. However, he was credited with a time four seconds slower after what he believes was a slight error with the official time keeping.
The 19:01 was recorded in the Rhos on Sea CC 10 mile TT in St Asaph on Sunday near Mullen’s base in North Wales.
The time bested the Irish junior national record by well over a minute, with the previous best for an Irish junior set by Thomas Martin in June 2006 in a time of 20:28 according to Cycling Ireland’s national records.
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Just two years ago Mullen clocked a time of 19:14 in a 10 mile TT which was the fastest time for a juvenile ever on British or Irish roads and was just one second off the junior record time, despite being aged just 15 years old at the time.
His time on Saturday means he now has the quickest juvenile and junior 10 mile TT times ever recorded on British or Irish roads; faster than the likes of Chris Boardman and Bradley Wiggins.
The weekend before last Mullen signalled his supreme condition when he clocked a time of 48:48 in a 25 mile TT in England; the quickest time for that distance ever on British or Irish roads by a junior.
That was almost two minutes faster than the previous Irish junior record over 25 miles; set by Marcus Christie in a time of 50:43 in August 2009 according to Cycling Ireland.
Mullen will need to submit his times for ratification by Cycling Ireland if they are to be confirmed as Irish national records.
The teenager is British-born and lives there but has declared for Ireland and has competed regularly with the Irish junior team in races in Ireland and abroad over the past couple of seasons. He has also competed regularly in Ireland riding for his Planet X team.
That’s two massive performances from Mullen that bode very well for the Junior Tour and indeed for the World Time Trial Championships later this year. If he were to continue progressing he could expect to catch the eye of a professional team very quickly into his U23 career, from next season onwards.
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