Opinion: Irish need to smash records to achieve Olympic dream

In the midst of trying to qualify for the Olympics, the Irish track riders need to go a lot faster to get to the Rio Olympics. Above, Ryan Mullen, Javan Nulty, Martyn Irvine and Cormac Clarke riding the recent European Championships in Guadeloupe.

Irish riders, and especially the national track team, have made great strides in recent years. But the team pursuiters face a massive, though not insurmountable, challenge in trying to qualify for the Rio Olympics in 2016. They must go a lot faster than they, or any other Irish riders have ever done in order to achieve the Olympic dream, writes well known coach Paddy Doran of Peak Endurance Coaching.

This weekend sees the Irish team competing in the UCI Track World Cup in London. The team pursuit is the event everyone wants to perform well in at World and Olympic level.

It is a great test of a rider’s and coach’s ability, with huge technical, physical and mental fitness demands to get the performance right.

To score points towards Olympic qualification the Irish teams must place in the top 8 in their qualifying round in London.

Based on recent performances, it’s going to be tough to achieve this. It will probably require the annihilation of the current Irish record if the team is to be successful in that regard.

At the last world cup event in Mexico the Irish teams struggled to get close to the top 8 in Qualifying.

The man in the eye of the storm, Cycling Ireland's head coach Brian Nugent has been trackside to see many great medal-winning rides in recent years. Here he chats with Ireland's most successful female track rider ever Caroline Ryan.

Men’s team pursuit qualifying split times, November Mexico World Cup

Men’s team pursuit qualifying split times, November Mexico World Cup

Irish standards

According to Cycling Ireland’s website, the men’s team pursuit record is 4mins 11.587secs. That was set in Copenhagen in 2009 by Paul Healion, Martyn Irvine, David McCann and David O’Loughlin.

Of those, only Irvine is still racing, though he is out of the team for London having crashed at the European Championships last month.

Paul Healion, a fantastic road and track racer in his day, has sadly passed away since the record was set.

The women’s team pursuit record is 4m 39.462secs. It was set at the World Cup meeting in Mexico last month by Caroline Ryan, Lydia Boylan, Lauren Creamer, Melanie Spath

So it looks like the teams will have to smash current Irish records at the London Velodrome this weekend to achieve Olympic Qualification points?

With a national record under their belt this year, Paddy Doran believes the women's team pursuiters may go a lot faster.

Good improvements are possible for the Irish

A strong performance by both Irish teams even if they don’t gain Olympic qualifying points could signal good progression.

I think with top class coaching, the women’s team can go substantially faster and will produce another national record.

The men’s performance in the period ahead will depend a lot on whether Martyn Irvine is fit to ride and what shape he is in to some extent.

Although the rest of the squad are still developing they may gel on the day which often happens when teams are faced with adversity.

A five second improvement is possible for the women’s team and two or three second improvement on the old record would be an excellent performance for the men.

Ryan Mullen is undoubtedly one of the most exciting prospects we have ever had. Hopefully the expectations and demands heaped on his shoulders as he follows a relentless programme of road racing in summer and track in winter will not prove too much for a man who has just turned 20 years old.

Good pacing is essential

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The key element to a good team pursuit performance is pacing. However, after the last World Cup event in Mexico, Cycling Ireland’s head coach Brian Nugent said:

“Today was a steep learning curve for both teams. The standard is high here and if you want to be competitive you have to push hard. Today both teams committed to that and in doing so ended up in trouble near the end of the ride.

“They are learning the hard way and it isn’t getting any easier for the next few months. The important thing, though, is that they are learning, and they have time to learn.”

This is somewhat worrying to hear. The most important thing every time a pursuit team competes is to perfect the pacing and to get as near a perfect pursuit and the best finishing time possible.

This should be perfected by the coaches at the training camps in Majorca and as the standard is going to be at least as high in London much better pacing is required.

Ireland can go faster if this is addressed. Achieving faster finishing times is the name of the game and essential to build the riders confidence.

Both teams have very determined riders and hopefully London will see a major improvement in performances.

Ireland has great strength in depth now, with many good riders. But Martyn Irvine is still the big boss man and we will look to him to lead the team pursuiters for a long time to come and to teach them as they go.

World records?

There is a distinct possibility that we could see new world records being set in both the men’s and women’s team pursuit competitions.

The Australian and British teams will be trying to outperform each other to get as many points as possible in their bid towards 2016 Olympic qualification.

And the British will want to put on a big display for their fans on their home track.

The current world record for the men’s team pursuit of 3:51.659 was set on the London track at the 2012 Olympics. The women’s world record is 4:16.552; set by Great Britain in Mexico last December.

The London velodrome has a very sophisticated heating system which can control the temperature to produce the fastest conditions for cycling.

Shannon McCurley is an explosive rider on the track and should continue to get stronger and faster for many years.

Other events

There may be opportunities for a high placing in the points event – which is a non-Olympic event.

It is very interesting to see Junior European Championships points race silver medallist Mark Downey in the Squad. He has already been successful in this event and could get a medal again in London.

Shannon McCurley has a great chance of a top ten placing in her event. Eoin Mullen still has a way to go in the sprint and is getting faster all the time but could perform very well in the keirin.

Both have won medals at European Championships level, Mullen just this year when he took a bronze in the sprint.

The Omnium is another very strongly contested event with Olympic qualifying points on offer, and will take a major effort to get a top placing.

Best wishes to all the team. It’s a great opportunity and challenge to race against many of the world’s best riders.

And some of the Irish riders can come out of the London World Cup with enhanced reputations and confidence.

Making relentless progress and with a Europeans bronze already in his back pocket, Eoin Mullen can carve out a new chapter for Irish cycling in the years to come as he competes in the sprint events where we have no real pedigree.

The author, Paddy Doran, is a former international rider and is one of the most successful Irish coaches of recent decades. He is a partner in Peak Endurance Coaching. The company offers training programmes for all riders; from those starting out and looking to get in shape, to those who ride for Ireland and professional teams on the biggest stages. Peak Endurance offer coaching along with general athlete welfare advice covering nutrition, recovery, bike fitting and other key areas.

www.peakendurancecoaching.com