Irish Track Team Have Ambitions at Manchester

 

Story Posted January 2, 2007

Manchester UCI World Track Cup (Feb 23-25th)

Supported by UK Sport & Manchester City Council

 

The newly established Irish track cycling team are heading to the Manchester Velodrome for the final round of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup February 23rd to 25th as part of their new campaign which targets qualification for the world championships as part of the plan.

 

Irish professional David O'Loughlin has already given Ireland's track cycling team the best possible start when he produced a qualifying time of 4 min 32.206 seconds in the men's 4,000 metres individual pursuit in Moscow in December to finish in 8th place in the UCI Track Cycling World Cup race.

O'Loughlin is the first Irish competitor to ride the four event series as part of the ambitious plan by Cycling Ireland which includes qualification for the world championships in Palma, Mallorca in March next year. "It's a decent start to my international track career" said O'Loughlin: "Especially in the middle of winter as I'm not 100% fit at the moment and there's lots of room for improvement."

"It's very encouraging," continued the 28-year-old from Cong, Co Mayo: "I was only about five seconds off qualifying for the bronze medal ride-off. That's not so far away. Prior to Moscow I didn't do any specific training but I will have more specific work done before the next world cup in Los Angeles in January. There are no indoor tracks in Ireland so I will be training at home using the special trainers that the Australian's have developed. I will also be able to get over to the tracks in Belgium and Newport. I have 100 UCI points already from Moscow and I hope that I can qualify for the world championships in the individual pursuit."

O'Loughlin is currently under contract with the US Navigators team based in New Jersey with compatriot Ciaran Power who is also part of a larger Irish team scheduled to ride in Los Angeles.

Cycling Ireland's High Performance Director Frank Campbell is delighted with the results of the fledgling project so far. "We are holding another training session in Gent in January and from there we go straight to Los Angeles. If things go to plan we would like to have a good run at the men's team pursuit in Manchester but Los Angeles could be a bit early for us."

"Mark Scanlon and Ciaran Power will be riding the bunch races for us in Los Angeles as well," continued Campbell: "They both ride for American teams and they have to be over there for their early season training camps and early racing. Things are coming on lot quicker than we could ever have hoped for. The plan is to have a big squad at Manchester and we would love one of the guys to qualify for the world championships and that would probably be Davie (O'Loughlin). But we are only two months along the line and it's pushing our hopes a little bit far at this stage."

"We are also taking Louise Moriarty along to Gent to train with the lads and ride the pursuit. We also have Jenny Faye on the squad. Jenny rode the track and the road last year until she was caught in a crash in one of the world cup races and she is already experienced in both disciplines."

Event Programme Information and ticket information
Full details of the UCI Track Cycling Manchester World Cup event programme can be found on www.worldtrackcycling.com which includes a link directly to the Ticketmaster page for the event. Day ticket prices start at £12 for adults and £6 for children.

Track Centre Dining
This exciting spectacle can be viewed from the comfort of a dining table in the track centre whilst enjoying the flavours of a special menu by top chef, Matthew Barrett. Guests will be able to enjoy flavours of the Mediterranean in a relaxed social environment, whilst the world's best cyclists approach the evening with a little more haste.

Packages are available for a minimum of two people (tables of 8 persons) and include:

A welcome drink on arrival

Informal dining with waitress service

VIP Car Parking

Official Programme

Hostess in attendance throughout the session

Dining is available during the evening sessions on Friday and Saturday and lunchtime on Sunday

Cost £50.00 + vat per person

Contact Rita Ballenca: +44 (0) 1372 464 666