Women’s Pursuit Team smash national record, Irvine wins qualifier for place in Omnium final.

Racing in their first world cup the Irish women’s team smashed their national record to get a time of 3min31.7sec in the team pursuit to finish 10^th out of 21 starters. Martyn Irvine moves into the final 24 for the omnium, by winning his qualifying heat and coming 7th in opening event, the flying lap.

The Women’s team pursuit time will be particularly pleasing to the coaching team as it not only knocked several seconds of their previous best time (3.37) but by finishing 5^th European team they have scored valuable Olympic qualifying points over some of their rivals for a place in the London Olympics.

On Thursday Irvine started the Omnium event strongly, this consists of six events, with points being rewarded for the finishing position in each. The gruelling event comprises of a flying 200, points race, elimination race, individual pursuit, scratch race and a time trial. Under the guidance of coach Andy Sparks, Irvine has been consistently improving in these events, and will be looking to build on his 8th place in the European Championships last month.

The women’s team pursuit is made up of Jennifer O Reilly, Caroline Ryan and Ciara Horne, all of whom are relatively new to cycling, and the improvements that the group has been making has been significant. The 3km Time Trial is a race against the clock, with two nations starting at opposite sides of the track. At the European Championships Ireland achieved a national record in a time of 3.37, following an intensive training block in Aigle, they have knocked 6 seconds off their time. Racing continues tomorrow with the men’s omnium and Ryan in the women’s individual pursuit.

Full results can be found at:

Racing schedule for Friday:

Men’s Omnium:

Martyn Irvine

Women’s Individual Pursuit:

Caroline Ryan