Shannon McCurley will become the first Irish female track cyclist to compete at an Olympic Games when she races in the keirin event. It has been one heck of a journey for the 24 year-old who is not funded by Cycling Ireland and has suffered many setbacks in her career.
By Brian Canty
Shannon McCurley has said she’ll be bursting with pride when she takes to the Olympic velodrome in Rio da Janeiro tomorrow as the first ever Irish woman to represent her country at the Games.
The Melbourne-based Irish woman goes in the keirin heats at 2pm Irish time with the repechage round at 8.22pm and the final at 9.33pm, should she advance.
It’s been a truly memorable journey for the bright and bubbly 24-year-old and despite some serious setbacks in her career, she’s always maintained an extremely upbeat, can-do attitude.
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There have been crashes, illnesses, injuries, bouts of bad luck and more than a few moments of self-doubt but she never shied away from any challenge.
Instead, she met them all with the fearlessness that’s made her the country’s foremost track sprinter.
“I’m so overwhelmed and I’m still getting goosebumps,” she tells us at 100-miles-an-hour.
McCurley qualifies to ride for Ireland courtesy of her mum and dad who are from Dublin and Belfast, respectively.
They emigrated to Australia before she was born so for that reason she’s spent most of her life in a small town two hours outside Melbourne.
As a nipper she showed real promise in running, setting a state record for the 1,500m which also ranked her top five in Australia in her age-group before she veered towards cycling.
The keirin is an explosive discipline that involves riding behind a motorised bike called a derny for a predetermined number of laps. The 2k event sees the derny accelerate away from the chasing bunch of around five or six riders. They then sprint for the remaining two laps to see who is declared the winner.
In a sports-mad country, the Olympics consumed her thoughts from as far back as she can remember.
“I won my first state title at 9 years of age and from then on it was always Olympics, Olympics, Olympics; that was the goal,” she recalled.
“I thought I was going to be running in the Olympics when I was younger.
“One of my really close friends I grew up with is actually doing long-jump for Australia," he said in reference to Brooke Stratton.
“We grew up together racing on Victorian teams, we used always be saying 'we’re going to go to the Olympics together' and now it’s crazy how that's happening!”
McCurley touched down in Rio last Saturday and was in the air for the entire opening ceremony.
“I was spewing I missed it but I understand my coaches don’t want me on my feet for eight hours, I get that.”
McCurley has medalled in endurance events in the past - in the U23 scratch race at the 2011 European Champpionships. But when keirin became an Olympic discipline and Cycling Ireland saw she had the engine for it she took a different path.
“It was extremely difficult, especially when I first made the crossover to sprinting to focus on an Olympic event, I hated it.
“I was going from medal contention in big races to making up numbers and I couldn’t handle it.
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“I guess I stuck with it and I saw the improvements and I knew it was going to take time. The girls I raced against hit their peaks a lot older than me so I knew it would take time.”
To get to Rio, McCurley has had to qualify by a long and convoluted process involving starting and finishing World Cups (3) as well as European and World Championships.
Might sound straight-forward but she was run over by a car two weeks before the World Cup in New Zealand last December and had her appendix taken out three weeks before the World Champs in London (in March).
Credit to her, she took her beatings and never once used it as an excuse.
“I had a really bad run into the world championships,” she explained.
“I had my appendix out three weeks out before it and I had a really horrible season.
“But I knew I had to start to qualify London and that was horrible. I was there, on the start-line, nobody really knew what was wrong. I did’t want to embarrass myself but I was struggling to hold the wheel.
“I hadn’t even been on a bike (in a race setting) since Hong Kong World Cup (in mid-January) before I got to London so I was going into it with nothing.
“I went out there and I was struggling to hold the wheel, let alone get into the race and I was in agony.
“I cried my eyes out after; I think I kept my helmet on for a good 20 minutes after the race so nobody could see me cry. It was heart-breaking.
“I was just so overwhelmed thinking ‘I’m here at the world champs but I’m not able to race’.
“I’m in pain but I’m also embarrassed because of what’s happening…but it’s all behind me now.”
McCurley qualifies to ride for Ireland through both her parents who are from Dublin and Belfast.
Her friends, family and followers all know what the keirin is by now.
But many don’t know why she puts herself through this daily ritual of suffering and sacrifice.
Cue more laughter on the line. “I just love the adrenaline, especially with keirin racing," she says.
“I used race keirin as an enduro just because I loved how it felt’ it’s tight, I love taking gaps.
“I’ve always been told I raced the keirins smartly because I don’t think which is great.
“I’ve always been a strong, tactical bunch race rider but now I’ve got a bit of power there too; I’m just really happy with how things have gone in the run-up to this Olympics.”
Speaking of which, she said he power has “sky-rocketed in the last six months”.
“I’m going there quietly confident, my wattage and just everything seems to have really fallen into place the last six weeks.
“I’ve had a gruelling training camp in Portugal and I really think I gave my all so I’m excited to get out there and see what I can do.”
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