Autumn Collins took her second national title in 10 days in Dublin on Sunday while Ryan Byrne also went for gold and got it.
Collins and Byrne – both Spellman Dublin Port - emerged
victorious from the women’s and men’s scratch races, seeing off quality riders
to clinch their titles at the National Track Championships on Sundrive Road.
Collins already had a freshly minted nationals gold medal
in the bag going into the track champs this weekend. She won the elite women’s
national criterium title in her native Limerick the week before last.
And on Sunday in the scratch race she went into the
contest facing fellow established Irish champions and international riders, not
to mention some of the fastest emerging riders on the Irish scene.
Kelly Murphy, the Team Rupelcleaning rider who had won the pursuit title in record-breaking time on Saturday, was among the first to make a move in the scratch race.
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And once the action got underway it didn’t stop; the
fancied riders going again and again, only to be brought back by their rivals
and some others in the field also getting across.
In the thick of the action were team mates Murphy and
national omnium champion Gaby Homer as well as Caoimhe O’Brien (Torelli-Assure-Cayman
Islands-Scimitar) and eventual winner Collins.
In the latter stages, a four-rider group pulled clear – Collins, O’Brien, Homer and Murphy – with Susie Mitchell (Sundrive Track Team) getting up to them.
As the final laps unfolded it was Murphy who attacked the
lead group and forged clear, though she was closed down with about 250 metres
to go.
From that point, Collins took the wheel of O’Brien. As
Homer began to creep up on the two of them, getting set to pull the trigger,
Collins let rip with her feared kick.
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She pulled out a gap on the others and in an instant the gold medal was going to Limerick, with O’Brien taking the silver and Homer the bronze.
"I'm really happy. I was fourth last year and coming
into it I really wanted a medal this time,” Collins said after her
title-winning rider.
“It was so disappointing to come fourth and I had two fourth place finishes last year. I really wanted the scratch because it's my favourite event and I was really happy to come away with it today."
The men’s race unfolded in a different manner, with a strong trio getting clear in a breakaway and holding off other fancied riders to take the medals; Ryan Byrne of Spellman Dublin Port powering his way to gold.
Like Collins, Byrne is no stranger to national titles as he was part of the team pursuit title-winning line-up for the last two years and took silver in that event three years ago. However, his breakaway ride on Sunday resulted in his first win in an individual Irish title race.
Also in that three-man move on Sunday with the eventual winner were Ian Donnelly (Orwell Wheelers Cycling Club) and Ian Inglis (Kinning Cycles Cycling Club). That leading trio gained a lap and when they did they were very much in the driving seat.
Saturday’s individual pursuit gold and bronze medal winners, Michael O’Loughlin (EvoPro Racing) and Cian Keogh (Spellman Dublin Port), got clear of the bunch and did their best to get the lap back on the breakaway trio.
However, while they made some inroads during their efforts to get back into medal contention, they were unable to manage that. In the end, the three-up sprint battle for the medals saw Byrne prove strongest; winning the title ahead of Donnelly and Inglis. Keogh placed 4th and O’Loughlin was 5th.
Byrne said he was delighted to win and as the race was ticking down to the finish he was confident the scenario of a three-up sprint would suit him.
"I knew as the
laps counted down, the closer we got to the last sprint, I was quite confident
with my sprint, so I was thinking that's the best opportunity for me
rather than going longer," he
said.
"The last few
laps there were a few digs and I was starting to wear out a bit but coming down
to the last two laps I knew then if we stayed together that I would be able to
come around them."
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