Eileen Burns catches and passes her rival on her way to taking a huge chunk of time of her personal best in the individual pursuit at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in Australia.
Northern Ireland cyclists in Commonwealth Games action
The Northern Ireland cyclists have been in track action at the Commonwealth Games; breaking personal bests and taking a top 10.
Best placed of the Irish was Robyn Stewart who cracked the top ten in the women’s sprint with 9th place.
Eileen Burns has also clearly travelled well to Australia as she shattered her previous best in the individual pursuit.
Xeno Young and Marcus Christie were 14th and 20th in the men’s pursuit. Young broke his personal best time but for Christie the trip to the Games is all about the road TT to come.
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Stewart clocked a qualifying time of 11.082 seconds for the 200m opening round. While she has done a 10.992 on a 333m track, in Moscow last year, the Commonwealth Games track is 250 metres.
And her fastest on a track if that length had been 11.33 seconds, which means she took a very significant three tenths of a second of that time at the Games.
In the 1/8 finals Stewart met Emma Cumming from New Zealand; the Kiwi beating the Belfast sprinter on the line.
Stewart was a spectator at the last Commonwealth Games cycling, in Glasgow in 2014. She was playing hockey as a hobby and had never cycled.
And she said he was delighted with her performance in Australia.
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Irish cyclists Robyn Stewart, Marcus Christie and Xeno Young in action on the track in Australia.
“Qualifying 9th meant that I raced the 8th placed rider. We were so close in qualifying. I put up a good fight, but Emma had the better of me," said Robyn Stewart.
“The atmosphere was amazing – it was such a good day. I’m excited for the keirin now on Sunday night. There’s lots more in the tank.”
Eileen Burns finished 17th in the pursuit, with a personal best time of 3.42.486. That was a staggering eight seconds faster than her previous record; from Glasgow in 2014.
Her event was won in a Games record of 3.24.119 by multi world and Olympic champion Katie Archibald from Scotland.
“The atmosphere in the track was amazing,” said the national TT champion who rode the World Road Championships last year.
“It was a full house of spectators and they were lifting the roof off cheering encouragement in every race.
“My family, including my husband and sister have made the journey over from home to watch me. So that made it even more special.”
She said she was happy with her ride, having ambitiously targeted a 10-second improvement.
“I did a 3.50 in Glasgow so had set myself a goal of 3.40, and I did 3.42,” she said of the 3km pursuit race.
“But I will look on the bright side and take my PB of eight seconds. I caught my competitor which helped to drive me on. And I know the areas that I can improve on.”
In the men’s pursuit Xeno Young – a silver medal winner in the event in the Worlds and Europeans last year – finished 14th in a personal best time of 4.24.568.
His time was three seconds faster than his ride at the senior Europeans last year.
Marcus Christie was 20th in a time of 4.35.402, though his preparation has been for the TT.
On Saturday Mark Downey, Marc Potts and Xeno Young compete in the men’s scratch race. Lydia Boylan riders the women’s points race.
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