Having qualified in the madison for the Olympics, and also booked a placed in the process in the omnium, Lydia Gurley and Lydia Boylan were exhausted but delighted after their madison race at the World Track Championships in Berlin.
Silver medalists in the Europeans before these Worlds and winners of medals at World Cup and World Championship level in their individual races, the duo took 11th in the Worlds in Berlin; enough to book their places for Tokyo.
While Boylan was off being patched up after a crash during their Berlin race, Gurley was explaining how it went and what it meant to them and their families.
“It was carnage. From our point of view it wasn’t pretty but we got the job done and that was the most important thing today,” Gurley said of doing enough to book hers and Boylan’s places to Tokyo.
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“We would have liked a better result but we take the points and we fought; we really, really had to fight there.
“I’m in bits but we’ve done it and I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved today."
While the race witnessed many crashes, one of them claimed Boylan for a period. And though she remounted and got back into the action, it meant Gurley had to race for a longer stint at that time.
“It seemed to happen just after the change. Someone went into the back of Lydia and there was nothing she could do,” Gurley explained of Boylan’s crash.
“I wasn’t really aware until I saw a lot of green jerseys running in one direction. And then I didn’t see Lydia on the track.
“So then I said ‘OK, now you just have to stick in and conserve energy because now you’re going to be in here for a while’.
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“So that’s what I tried to do; just find a good wheel and stick on there, though it’s draining to be in there for a while. But then we had to fight again and we got it done.”
After the crash a number of nations went on the attack
and gained a lap on others, including Ireland.
Gurley believed Boylan’s crash put the Irish duo on the
back foot at that vital moment.
“Any time you crash it’s going to hurt. You’re going to
bash yourself up and the legs take a while to get going. The race just picked
up at the wrong time for us.
“But fortunately it was teams that were (already) ahead
of us. We would have liked to get a better result, and that’s what we’re
capable of.
“That didn’t work out for us but I’m proud of what we’ve
achieved. We’ve really improved this year and now we have another five months
to improve again.”
When she spoke after the event, Gurley said her mother
and brother were in the Berlin crowd and she “couldn’t wait to give them a hug”.
“Now that the job is done; maybe people think that we’re
athletes and it doesn’t mean anything but it means the world.
“It means the world to us and our families; they’ve been
there for us through all the bad times. I’m really happy we could do that
today.”
Gurley paid tribute to the rest of the Irish track team,
saying Alice Sharpe, Shannon McCurley and Emily Kay had all ridden in the
madison for Ireland and helped in the qualification process.
While the Irish track squad was a relatively small one,
she said everyone had been dedicated and worked hard and she hoped that was
raising the profile of the sport in Ireland as “people like success”.
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