A top road rider, Eoin Morton powered his way to a gold medal in the scratch race at the National Track Championships at the week. He also won two bronzes (Photo: Sean Rowe)
By Brian Canty
Eoin Morton surprised many at the weekend when he took home a gold medal in the scratch race for the National Track Championships.
The UCD CC man is a relative newcomer to the velodrome but hasn’t taken long to adapt to its demands, beating a strong line-up where John Lynch (Murphy Surveyors) and Fintan Ryan (DID Electrical Dunboyne) were second and third.
As well as the gold there, Morton took home two bronze in both the kilo TT and 4K pursuit, the latter behind Martyn Irvine (Madison Genesis) and UCD CC teammate Con Collis.
Advertisement
“It was a great weekend, I’m delighted with it,” Morton said. “I’m a newcomer to the track really but I’ve done a good bit of training for it.
“The thing is though, it’s completely different to the road. Yes, at the end of the day it’s just pedals and the bike but it’s a different style to road-racing.
“The big thing is the speed; it’s much, much faster. I hit 72kph on the track while cadence is something you’ve to really practice on but I enjoy it.
“I’d actually say the scratch win is one of my biggest ever results; you could go into the office on a Monday after getting 8th on a stage of the Rás and no one will raise an eyebrow.
“But you go in and say you’re a national champion – not that I would, and it’s huge. It’s big for sponsors and it registers with people; it’s an easier sell.”
Having only taken it up a couple of months ago because the team track nationals and Suir Valley Three-Day did not clash he thinks it’s something he is interested in longer term
Related News
“Next season I want to keep it going and do more of it,” he said.
“It’s good, hard racing and this time of year the road season goes quiet, it shortens the winter as well.”
Morton will ride the upcoming Laragh Classic, after which he will take the month of October off and build up again for 2016.
Looking back on 2015 he agrees it was his best ever season, with some superb results, including winning the Bobby Crilly Classic in June and a stint in the pink jersey at the Tour of Ulster.
“The classic league was great to finish third in; I was over the moon with that.
“Races are hard to win now but to win one on a hilltop finish was very special," he said in reference to the Bobby Crilly.
“The Tour of Ulster as well; no one would have given us a chance in that but the way we rode gives small teams belief they can compete against the bigger ones.
“I knew from the way Ian (Richardson) was going there that he was onto something amazing for the Rás and he was.]
“I had a bit of a lull in form after the Rás and that cost me a few points in terms of catching Mark (Dowling) in the classic league but it was always a race for second anyway after McCrystal won two rounds of it.”
