CYCLING/ News: With Robin Seymour now assured of securing a place for Ireland in next year's Olympic cross-country event, Tarja Owens and Jenny McCauley face the more difficult task of landing a slot in the women's race.
Both had aimed to qualify through individual world rankings this season, but with McCauley falling sick earlier in the year and Owens cracking her collarbone in August, this particular qualification route has now slipped away.
Instead, the two women must now try to score a high level of world ranking points in their two remaining races in the hope that their combined totals will earn a place through the nations ranking. Should they place amongst the top riders in both of the E1 events to be held in Israel next month, they have a chance of moving into the top 16 nations.
According to team manager Geoff Seymour, this would make it likely that a place would pass to Ireland, as some of the top countries are unlikely to take up their full quota of riders. Owens's third and McCauley's fourth place in last weekend's International Alanya Mountain Bike Cup in Turkey is an encouraging sign.
Seymour was seventh in the men's race at the same competition, making certain of qualification. This weekend he lines out in a E1 event on the Olympic course in Athens. His presence there means that the national champion will miss the first round of the Irish cyclo-cross league in Lurgan Park on Saturday.
In other news, resurfacing of the Eamon Ceannt velodrome, Crumlin, has finally begun, following unforeseen delays relating to the contracting of the work and the nature of the task. The project is expected to be completed inside a month. Work will then begin on phase two of the capital programme - the construction of Cycling Ireland's National Cycling School.
This project will be discussed at the a.g.m. of Cycling Ireland's track commission on the afternoon of November 9th. The venue is the Spawell Complex in Templeogue; more information is available from Will Byrne on 086 8047839.
FIXTURES: Saturday 18th: National cyclo-cross league, Lurgan Park. Underage races at noon, the main event has a 1 p.m. start.
Sunday 19th: Round two, Connacht MTB league. Sign-on from noon at Burke's Garage, Clonbur.
