On Saturday some of the World’s top up and coming cyclists will compete in Dublin in the first UCI recognised track event to be held here in over 50 years.
Teams from Great Britain, Holland, Belgium, New Zealand and Canada will compete at the Sundrive outdoor velodrome which has played a major part in the development of Irish talent like World Champion Martyn Irvine, Caroline Ryan and Eoin Mullen.
Irvine is currently recovering from injury but Ryan and Mullen will compete on Irish teams at the event, admission to which is free to the general public.
“It is a real honour to be racing a UCI sanctioned event on our own track in Sundrive,” said World Bronze medallist Ryan.
“I am feeling good after retaining my National Time Trial Title a few weeks ago, and am looking forward to taking on the other nations in front of home crowd for a change.”
Ryan faces tough competition from some of cycling’s top nations, including Silver Medallist from the Commonwealth Games, Charline Joiner, and up and coming Belgian star Else Belmans.
Eoin Mullen, Ireland’s top sprinter, who is based in the World Cycling Centre in Aigle, will line up against professionals like UK’s Jamie McCallum and 2012 World Champion Andy Tennant.
Top youngster Ryan Mullen will also be competing, the two Mullens are using this race as preparation for next week’s European U23 Track Championships in Portugal, for which they leave the following day.
There is no local sponsorship for the event but a large crowd and hopefully a strong performance from Irish athletes at the time when the Tour de France in road cycling is to the fore, will mean increased interest in the sport from commercial partners in the near future.
It will come as a surprise to many that Dublin does have a velodrome. It may not be indoor, nor as shiny as that in the leading cycling centres but the facility is there and in current straitened times is doing an adequate job in early stage preparation of top performing athletes.
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UCI Cycling at Dublin Velodrome
