Mark Kiernan (leading) won the scratch race national title last year and was looking forward to defending his crown this weekend against world champion Martyn Irvine. However, Kiernan is one of a number of veteran riders now out of the championships after Cycling Ireland said they could not take part. The federation said it published the rules back in January.
A large number of riders, including two defending champions, have been left excluded from this weekend’s Senior National Track Championships after Cycling Ireland said veterans could not ride the championships this year as they have always done.
However, while the riders in question only learned of the news yesterday, just three days before the championship meeting is due to start in Dublin, Cycling Ireland has insisted there has been no late change of rules and not surprise enforcement of the rules.
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The veteran riders, who were all included in the start lists for both the men’s and women’s track title races published on stickybottle this week, are now out of the meeting at Sundrive Rd, south Dublin.
It means seven riders are out of the pursuit field, leaving 20 riders. The sprint sees eight riders excluded, with 20 now set to fight for the title, with the kilometre TT down to a 21-rider field after nine riders were forced out. And in the scratch race 19 men will fight it out after 10 riders were withdrawn.
While there are still considerable field in all races, some have been cut by one third, which is unfortunate.
The issue centres on the fact that because there are separate vets and elite track championships on the calendar this year, anyone with a vets licence can only ride the veterans’ championships.
But because there is no veterans’ keirin championships and no veterans’ female championships on the calendar, veteran women can ride the elite championships and veteran men can ride the keirin.
The exclusion of male veteran athletes from all events apart from the keirin this weekend means riders like Mark Kiernan (Murphy Surveys) and Hugh Mulhearne (Iverk Carrick Produce) will not be able to defend the national titles they won in the scratch race and individual pursuit respectively last year.
Other riders also tipped to make their mark but are now out include, among others, Brendan Whelan (Adamstown), Greg Swinand (Usher IRC) and Jason Howick (Bray Wheelers).
However, the silver lining is that the veteran’s will have their own track championships next month with pursuit, scratch, sprint and TT titles down for decision.
Mark Kiernan was livid when he spoke to stickybottle today, saying he had trained specifically to try and retain his title this weekend. He was looking forward to squaring off against Martyn Irvine, who will be riding the event as world champion in the discipline.
“I understood that from next year what was going to happen was they were going to bring in a separate championships and that from that point your could ride either the elite or vets but not both,” he said.
“But Cycling Ireland have pulled this rule out of the air - and done it 72 hours before the championships - which says we can’t ride. I’ve already been speaking to a solicitor and am looking to speak to a senior counsel to do something about this, that’s how serious it is.”
He could not understand why Cycling Ireland was, as he saw it, taking the choice between competing in the vets or elite championships out of the hands of veteran riders.
He also believed there was nothing in the UCI rules preventing riders choosing the championship they wished to ride, or even being permitted to ride by the elite championships and veteran championships in the same event in the same season.
Some vets who contacted stickybottle, and wish to remain anonymous, expressed their disappointment at having been entered for a long time only to be told yesterday, Wednesday, there was a problem.
“It's the timing of it that is most annoying,” said one.
“If you know at the start of the season when they are on, or not, then you can get on with it. But to pull it from you at short notice is unbelievable. Martyn Irvine is entered and he’s a huge draw so it would have been good to try and pit myself against him and I’m sure others were thinking the exact same.”
Said another rider: “I put a lot of training in for this and to be told 72 hours before the event was due to take place is just not good enough.”
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“Riders deserve better. It’s a huge commitment and I don’t mind making that commitment because bike racing is my passion and I love it.”
“But we feel very let down by this development. We’re hearing there will be a separate vets' track champs later in the year but nothing is concrete yet. There were around 15 guys (10 – Ed) on the start list for each race that will hit by this.”
The exclusion of the veteran riders from this weekend’s proceedings only emerged yesterday when those organising the championships were liaising with the commissaire to iron out the finer details of how the action will unfold.
The confusion and delay in clarifying the matter appears to have occurred following a breakdown in communications between Cycling Ireland, its track commission and those behind this weekend’s championships.
The organisers of the meeting always understood that if there was an elite track championships being run and also a separate vets track championships this year, then those with vets licences could only ride the vets championships (though those aged over 40 years with elite licences rather than vets licences could ride the elite championships).
Hugh Byrne of the track commission told stickybottle that at the start of the year it was planned to hold a separate vets championships with the same events and titles on offer as the elite championships.
However, he said protocols around any new championships stipulated that two races of the same nature be held before a championship race in that event was run. He added that because two events the same as, or similar to, the proposed vets track championships had not been run, the track commission believed they were not eligible to hold the vets track championships this year and so the fixture was withdrawn from the calendar.
Byrne said he was of the view that because the veterans track championships had been withdrawn, he believed the choice for vet track riders between riding the elite track championships or vets track championships did not arise and that all vet riders were eligible to ride this weekend.
“The rule is that if there is an equivalent championship race being held for vets as elites, anyone with a vets licence has to ride the vets’ championship race rather than the elite one,” he said.
“Because there was never a women’s veterans track championships planned, the women vets down to ride this weekend can ride, precisely because there is no equivalent vets race to ride.”
Byrne said he and others on the track commission were not aware that Cycling Ireland had relaxed for the proposed veterans track championship the protocol that two “trial” races should be held before the championship went ahead.
As far as Cycling Ireland was concerned, a veterans track championships had been pencilled into the calendar at the start of the year and there was no impediment to it going ahead. That meant there were still two national track championships in the calendar – a vets' one and elite one. As a result, under the Cycling Ireland rules published in January, any riders with vets’ licences could only ride the vets’ championships and were automatically excluded for this weekend’s meeting.
Byrne said the existence of the rule and veterans’ championship fixture on the calendar were pointed out to him on Wednesday by the commissaire for this weekend and also by Cycling Ireland. And once that had happened, it became clear anyone with a vets licence was effectively excluded from this weekend.
He said the veterans track championships included on the calendar at the start of the year but which he and his colleagues thought had been withdrawn, will now go ahead next month as initially planned.
Cycling Ireland CEO Geoff Liffey said the rules governing the clear separation of veterans and elite championships were among rules for 2013 publish in January and were not being introduced by surprise or late in the day.
“In 2013 a Veterans’ Track Championships was introduced following discussions with the track commission. Riders with ‘vet’ on their license are not eligible to ride in the senior championship and should take part in the veterans’ championship.”
“It also doesn’t make sense to me why some of the riders would ride a veterans’ road race (championships) and then a few months later want to enter a senior track championship. You are either a senior or veteran; not both.”
