Lydia Boylan comes into the Irish team for next week's An Post Rás na mBan after injuries sustained by Mary Costelloe in a recent training accident have forced her out of the race.
A winner of a gold medal and two silvers at last weekend’s National Track Championships, Lydia Boylan has been drafted into the Irish team for next week’s An Post Rás na mBan after Mary Costelloe was forced to withdraw today due to injury.
Costelloe, who won the sprint title at the track championships and also took a bronze medal back in June at the National Road Race Championships, sustained a number of nasty injuries when she was involved in an accident out training in Dublin.
That incident occurred before the track championships and while she went on to compete well there, her injuries have not settled enough to enable her take on six tough stages over five days in Co Clare next week.
Advertisement
Costelloe was knocked from her bike when a car door opened in her path. The US-based rider sustained a torn rotator cuff in her left shoulder, a strained calf muscle and a torn hamstring.
Related News
The woman she beat into the silver medal position when winning her sprint crown, Boylan has now been called up to the Irish team.
An experienced campaigner on road and track, UK-based Dubliner Boylan added the 500 metre time trial title to her sprint and scratch silvers medals on Sundrive Road last weekend.
She rode for Ireland in last year's An Post Rás na mBan, finishing runner-up to Kamilla Sofie Vallin of Denmark by just six seconds.
Ireland manager Gillian McDarby said it was a tough decision to rest Costelloe but she felt it was important to consider her long term health and recovery.
"Mary did the track thinking she was okay and the intensity of the efforts tore her calf muscle even further plus she pulled both her hamstrings due to overcompensation.”
"I spoke to her physio on Tuesday morning and I decided that we needed to put Mary's recovery first. She could have started but the intensity of the racing would result in further injury, putting her off the bike for a long time and possibly resulting in causing long term injury.”
"It was a tough decision but the right one for Mary and we both agreed that."
Meanwhile, Canadian Veronique Fortin has replaced Sarah Piner in the DID Electrical squad. The 2011 Canadian National Champion finished 25th in this year's Giro d'Italia and will now be one of the favourites to make a big impact in the race that gets underway next Wednesday.
Topics
