Orla Hendron in the Omnium in Dublin in September (Photo: Ieva Japertaite)
Orwell CC’s Orla Hendron has taken Ireland’s second silver medal at the World Masters Track Championships in Manchester, to add to the silver won by club mate Stephen McNally and bronze bagged by Banbridge CC’s Terry Mackin.
Hendron was out to defend the world title in the points race 45-49 years age category she had won in Portugal last year, but in the end had to be content with silver after a hard fought contest.
She put up a very spirited performance starting with an attack from the gun and several other forays off the front while also bagging points at every sprint.
It all translated into a fine second place finish behind Janet Birkmyre of Great Britain and another trip to the podium at a world championships for the Orwell Wheelers rider.
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Earlier in Monday’s evening session, Terry Mackin (Banbridge CC) clocked 1:06.956 in the 35-39 Kilo TT to take the bronze medal.
Mackin's time, a personal best, in his first international track competition was eight tenths of a second off the time set by gold medallist Ben Elliott of Great Britain.
Mackin told stickybottle from Manchester that while he was happy to have medalled at a major UCI Worlds, he was also slightly disappointed.
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“It was about going for gold,” he said of his trip to the UK with the Irish team this week.
“I was perhaps a little bit too cautious at the start, in the first 500m when my split time was down the field, but then I had the fastest time in the last two splits. So maybe I could have gone out harder.”
Mackin, an accountant from Dromore, raced on the road from the age of 11 years before becoming disillusioned with the sport when he was 19 or 20. He then took up weight lifting in his 20s and had continued that until returning to cycling just last year.
His power from the weights has clearly transferred very well onto the track.
“It was in May 2010 with the Ulster coach Brian Cardy that I started on the track. I medalled in the national championships and had a look at the times at the worlds masters and we decided to have a go at it.”
Stephen McNally had earlier on Monday taken a silver medal in the men’s 3km pursuit in the 45-49 age category. He had already won the European title in the same event this season but perhaps did not time his effort smoothly enough this time around, going out too fast to be up by two seconds on his US opponent after the first km.
He then faded in the second km, leaving himself with two seconds to make up. He got to within 0.5 seconds of Daniel Casper from Minnesota but could not overhaul him for gold. But it was a great result nonetheless.
The Irish are in action all week so stay tuned for more.
Terry Mackin, left, and Stephen McNally, centre, in Manchester after winning medals on Monday night
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