Eoin Mullen of Team Ireland in action in the keirin event at the UCI World Cup in Mexico (Photo with thanks to Guy Swarbrick)
By Brian Canty
The Irish track team brought the opening round of the UCI World Cup series in Guadalajara, Mexico, to a close last night.
Ireland was represented by three riders across a range of disciplines on the final day of competition.
Caroline Ryan, Eoin Mullen and Shannon McCurley all took to the boards, keen to secure some qualification points for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Unfortunately, it proved to be a difficult night once again for the Irish, not helped by the morale-sapping news of Martyn Irvine’s broken collarbone just 24 hours previously.
In the women’s omnium, Ryan started the second day seventh overall.
That came about after she was 12th in both the scratch and elimination races and sixth in the individual pursuit - in a time of 3.34.885 - on Saturday.
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Yesterday, she completed the remaining events in the shape of the 500m sprint, the flying lap and the points race.
However, the former World Championships and World Cup bronze medallist was to slip right down the standings.
In the 500m she clocked a time of 37.646 but that was only good enough for 20th place and she slipped back to 11th overall.
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A classy competitor who has put in some great service already for her country, Mexico 2014 became a meeting to forget for Caroline Ryan. But she'll be back (Photo with thanks to Guy Swarbrick)
Things were not to get any better in the flying lap where Ryan was 19th, pushing her down to 15th overall on 76 points.
And she consolidated that overall position when she was 14th in the points race.
Eoin Mullen was also in action yesterday when he finished in 30th place in the sprint 200m TT qualifying event, but did not advance to the 1/16 finals.
Only the top 24 of 42 competitors advanced.
The Aran Islander went better a day previously when he advanced to the repechage round in the keirin, where he took fourth.
But with only the winner from both heats proceeding to the next round, Mullen did not advance.
The third Irish competitor in action yesterday, Australia-based Shannon McCurley also took part in the keirin.
She was off the pace in the repechage round in what was a world class field.
However, the meeting represented in valuable experience for Mullen and McCurley who have both qualified in the keirin for the 2014-15 World Cup series and will be looking to improve further in the months ahead.
The next World Cup takes place in less than a month in London from December 5th to 7th, followed by the third round in Colombia in the New Year.
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