Mia Griffin will be Ireland’s final competitor in action at the UCI Track Nation Cup in Cairo, the Mayo woman lining out in the multi-event Omnium competition on Friday.
Griffin was part of Ireland’s line-up in the team pursuit on Wednesday, combining with Lara Gillespie, Alice Sharpe and Kelly Murphy to finish an excellent fourth in the competition. She qualified for the Omnium on Friday morning by placing seventh in heat two, and will contest the scratch race, tempo race, elimination race and points race rounds during the competition.
Sharpe and Griffin were in action on Thursday, lining out in the relay-style Madison event and finishing a solid seventh in the final of the contest.
Also racing on Thursday was JB Murphy, who had a frustrating time in the Omnium. Murphy was 16th in heat two and with the first 12 from each heat going through to the four Omnium events, he didn’t progress.
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Meanwhile amid a very high level of overseas interest for the race, the organisers of the Rás Tailteann have announced a 10-day window for Irish teams to sign up for the event.
“I could fill this race with British riders in the morning if I wanted,” race director Ger Campbell told The Irish Times recently, speaking about that international demand. “We already have seven or eight British teams confirmed. We have a team from America confirmed.”
Regulations mean that a total of 35 five-man teams can take part in the race. Irish squads have until Sunday March 26th to register for the race, unless all the allocated places have been filled earlier than that. Foreign teams will then be able to sign up.
Further details can be found on the Rastailteann.com website.
