European Track Championships 15-19th October

Beasty

... are taking place in the Caribbean (Guadeloupe) this year!!

Irish team announcement

11 riders named, which must be a record number for the Irish team, comprising:

Martyn Irvine
Ryan Mullen
Cormac Clarke
Javan Nulty
Thomas Fallon
Eoin Mullen
Caroline Ryan
Lydia Boylan
Lauren Creamer
Melanie Spath
Shannon McCurley

Great news that they are attempting to qualify both men's and women's pursuit teams for Rio

Hope to see them all working on their tan lines.....:)

kumate_champ07

2014 UEC Track Elite European Championships
Baie-Mahault, Guadaloupe 15th – 19th October

exciting times for track/Irish cycling

Eoin Mullen having recently won sprint gold @Aigle 3 day event, Martyn Irvine back concentrating on full time track riding having left USA road circuit, and Ryan Mullen on top form


Full Team:


Men’s Team Pursuit
Martyn Irvine
Ryan Mullen
Cormac Clarke
Javan Nulty
Thomas Fallon

Women’s Team Pursuit
Caroline Ryan
Lydia Boylan
Lauren Creamer
Melanie Spath

Men’s Keirin and Sprint
Eoin Mullen

Women’s Keirin
Shannon McCurley

Men’s Omnium
Martyn Irvine

Women’s Omnium
Caroline Ryan

Pursuit and Bunch Races
TBC


I follow sprinting but very excited to see team pursuit back, we have plenty of youth on the scene who can grow into a top international team in the future

its also great to see the womens pursuit team back after being cruely denied funding in the not too distant past

press release here
http://www.cyclingireland.ie/cycling-news-item/irish-team-announced-for-european-championships/397

kumate_champ07

sorry didnt see this posted already!

Beasty

Threads merged

RobFowl

Add in ex Irish international Ciara Horne who is in the UK team pursuit squad and we've 12 there

eeeee

Can't wait! Where is this on tv? Uci channel?

Beasty

gadetra wrote: »

Can't wait! Where is this on tv? Uci channel?

It's a UEC event so won't be on the UCI channel. I'm also guessing they are 5 hours behind here meaning a lot of the racing may be in the early morning over here.

Eurosport usually cover the Europeans, but the location and time difference may discourage them. The BBC could also show them on teh red button, but I can't see anything on their website at present

Programme of events here

Darkglasses

A quick reminder that this starts today

Beasty

Can't find any details of coverage on Eurosport or the BBC - anyone know if it's live on TV?

Supposed to be the team pursuit qualifications today

Outdoor 333m track so maybe the Irish team will feel at home, particularly when it starts bucketing down ....

C-Shore

Beasty wrote: »

Can't find any details of coverage on Eurosport or the BBC - anyone know if it's live on TV?

Supposed to be the team pursuit qualifications today

Outdoor 333m track so maybe the Irish team will feel at home, particularly when it starts bucketing down ....

I don't think there is coverage of it.

Even looking at the UEC YouTube channel, there's no highlights of last year either, so I don't know.

It looks like it's a wooden track - how well can they last over time outdoors? Not sure what the rainfall is like in Guadelope!

nak

C-Shore wrote: »

I don't think there is coverage of it.

Even looking at the UEC YouTube channel, there's no highlights of last year either, so I don't know.

It looks like it's a wooden track - how well can they last over time outdoors? Not sure what the rainfall is like in Guadelope!

It's concrete. Meadowbank velodrome in Edinburgh is an outdoor wooden track built in 1970.

ryan_sherlock

Yeah - a painted concrete track that is slightly bumpy and has head/tail winds

REBELSAFC

ryan_sherlock wrote: »

Yeah - a painted concrete track that is slightly bumpy and has head/tail winds

But sunsets like this.........





(pics from cyclingnews)

wav1

Has anyone any idea,why,with all the modern indoor tracks there are in Europe,these championships are taking place on a sundrive rd on tour track,thats not even in Europe?

Beasty

One thing I had not realised until I was speaking to one of the Team GB coaches last week is that you cannot go to the Worlds unless you have taken part in the equivalent event at the Europeans, which essentially forced countries to send strong squads to Guadeloupe

The entry list now states which events everyone is down for:
Men
Team pursuit - Clarke, Irvine, Ryan Mullen, Nulty
Sprint & Keirin - Eoin Mullen
IP - Ryan Mullen
Points - Clarke, Nulty
Scratch - Irvine, Nulty
Omnium - Irvine

Women
Team pursuit - Boylan, Creamer, Ryan, Spath
Keirin - McCurley
IP - Spath
Points - Boylan, Creamer
Scratch - Boylan, McCurley
Omnium - Ryan

Beasty

wav1 wrote: »

Has anyone any idea,why,with all the modern indoor tracks there are in Europe,these championships are taking place on a sundrive rd on tour track,thats not even in Europe?

I suspect it's a bit like the American Footballers playing at Wembley:pac:

Guadeloupe is apparently considered part of France.

There has been a struggle to get anyone to put some track events on in recent years with a bit of a reliance on the likes of Manchester/London/Glasgow and the Netherlands within Europe. A lot of World Cup and championship events have ended up in Colombia and Mexico with even the likes of the Aussies more reluctant to put them on. They have only in the last few weeks finalised details for this season and even then the format is changing resulting in only the 7 Olympic events being allowed at the World Cup events (except for London who had already committed to 3 days so were given the option of putting a few more events on)

I'm guessing it's down to cost, with few Feds prepared to commit. The European track masters in Alkmaar were cancelled for example when the promoter discovered he risked having to pay out 150 grand for potential doiping tests

Beasty

The Team pursuit qualification starts at 11pm

Ireland are first off in each event. They are presumably the lowest seeds because they have no track record in the event.Therefore the only way is up.... (or hold your own!)

Fastest 8 teams (of 13 men, 12 women) progress

Beasty

Time for the women - 4m 52.221s - France up next

That should be a new Irish record, as they've never done the 4km distance in competition before!

eeeee

Where are you watching this Beasty?

Beasty

gadetra wrote: »

Where are you watching this Beasty?

That's a secret....

Live timing

here

French have gone faster, now over to Lithuania...

EDIT - damn - should have said something like "on the 2nd bend"!!

eeeee

Thanks!

Beasty

Lithuania set the fastest time so far

Next up the Usabiagabalerd sisters for Spain - think I know now why there's no live commentry....

Beasty

So the Spanish move into 4th place with a time which is nearly 10s slower than the Irish girls

Beasty

Getting very interesting - Spain, the Ukraine and Belgium are now slower than Ireland. Just needs one more team to go slower and they will progress to the next round.

Of course the teams to come are seeded higher because they are faster, but given they have never competed at this level before it's a pretty impressive performance whatever happens

6 teams to go with Belarus up next

eeeee

Think slow thoughts Belarus….

Beasty

Yes!! Belarus are just under 0.2s behind guaranteeing Ireland progression to the next round:)

Beasty

GBR fastest about 12s ahead of Ireland in 6th place. I presume they will go head to head in the next round, but it will be a great experience for the girls whatever happens

Next up the guys

Beasty

Christ - showing a time with 0.5 laps to go then a DNF - hope no-one crashed

eeeee

Eek god I hope not. I wonder what happened? Not a great start to the champs for the men

kumate_champ07

anyone know what happened in the mens team pursuit?

kumate_champ07

womens TP Italy V Ireland next, 4 seconds difference in qualifying

kumate_champ07

They were 4th fastest over the first 1km

Beasty

kumate_champ07 wrote: »

anyone know what happened in the mens team pursuit?

Not seen anything more. CI tweeted it may have been a mechanical, but I suspect they were using the same info source as me. I think they would get a re-run if it was a mechanical. Can't access the results website from work, but I assume no re-run is shown?

ryan_sherlock

Beasty wrote: »

Not seen anything more. CI tweeted it may have been a mechanical, but I suspect they were using the same info source as me. I think they would get a re-run if it was a mechanical. Can't access the results website from work, but I assume no re-run is shown?

I believe there was a crash on the final straight - riders seem okay though.

eeeee

ryan_sherlock wrote: »

I believe there was a crash on the final straight - riders seem okay though.

Crap that's a pity. Hopefully everyone is still feeling good, no form damaged.

Harrybelafonte

Cycling Ireland have confirmed an entanglement in last corner. Hopefully the guys will manage to get a bit more practice in for next time.

Beasty

Had suspected that - when you come to the end of the pursuit the 2nd and 3rd riders usually move up alongside the first one as its the 3rd one over the line that sets the time. Given they had set a time with half a lap to go I thought that move may have caused a problem

To be clear though they have all been away practicing indoors in Mallorca for quite a time. Clearly though a couple of the guys have quite limited track experience and that was a different track to anything they are used to (although again they have had a couple of days practice over there)

Harrybelafonte

Beasty wrote: »

Had suspected that - when you come to the end of the pursuit the 2nd and 3rd riders usually move up alongside the first one as its the 3rd one over the line that sets the time. Given they had set a time with half a lap to go I thought that move may have caused a problem

To be clear though they have all been away practicing indoors in Mallorca for quite a time. Clearly though a couple of the guys have quite limited track experience and that was a different track to anything they are used to (although again they have had a couple of days practice over there)

When you're full on and knackered after the effort, that move can be very difficult to get right. I feel really bad for them tbh, as it's the very last thing you've to do, if that's what it was.

REBELSAFC

Out of curiosity, whats position were they in the final time check?

Beasty

REBELSAFC wrote: »

Out of curiosity, whats position were they in the final time check?

Can't access the results website at present but IIRC they were 4m 8s or so which would have brought them in at just under 4m 20s. The Irish indoor record is just under 4m 12s, so they were heading for a decent enough time for an outdoor track by the looks of it

Harrybelafonte

"Speaking after the heats in the outdoors Velodrome in Guadeloupe, Cycling Ireland’s Head Coach Brian Nugent said “this was a really solid debut by both teams into the Elite ranks. The women’s team proved their potential by making it through to the final rounds tomorrow. The men were so unlucky. They were on such a good ride, placing in the top 6 until a tangle in the final corner, remarkable for a new team. There’s so much more to come from both teams. It’s incredibly exciting for the future.”"



http://www.cyclingireland.ie/cycling-news-item/womens-team-pursuit-quaranteed-olympic-qualifying-points/401

Beasty

"top 6" - that's very impressive - a field of 13, with 3 of them not only very young but never having competed in this event (certainly on the international stage) before. That's incredibly encouraging

kumate_champ07

Italy 4:49.077
Ireland 4:58.448

Beasty

kumate_champ07 wrote: »

Italy 4:49.077
Ireland 4:58.448

One more ride for the girls - up against Lithuania for 7th and 8th places. They have a chance if they can repeat yesterday's performance and maybe they were holding a bit back against Italy with that in mind

Beasty

The way the qualification works if the guys had managed to get through then repeated yesterday's effort (without the crash obviously!), they could have ended up in the bronze medal ride off. As it is France will be there on a time of 4m 21.77s in today's 2nd qualifying round.

I've no idea of the conditions though as everyone seems a little slower than yesterday

Harrybelafonte

Joanna Roswell posted temp it is there

Beasty

Womens pursuit confirmed 8th. Their race against Lithuania had the lead swapping regularly during the first 2km but Lithuania finished strongly to take it by nearly 6s.The good news though is the girls improved yesterday's time to finish in 4m 50.218s

Beasty

The Irish team actually went faster than 6th placed France, but as it's now head to head that makes no difference. They ended up against a much stronger Lithuania who must have had a problem or perhaps fielded a reserve earlier in the day and hence ended up in the 7/8th place run-off

Gold goes to GBR in a very impressive 4m 38.391s (the fastest time in the competition) beating Russia who took silver with the bronze going to Italy

I believe 6 European teams qualify for Rio, and Ireland on the basis of this performance are going to be ranked around equal 7th with France. However this is very early days for this quartet and hopefully there is plenty of room for improvement

Beasty

GBR come back from 2s down at the halfway stage to win the mens event from Germany with Russia taking bronze. The winning time was 4m 11.545s

Interesting both womens and mens fastest times were about 20s outside the respective world records. Part of that will be down to conditions and also the fact it's very early in the season with teams looking to peak for the Worlds in the new year

Beasty

This thread is overdue an update on what's been going on in Guadeloupe

Shannon McCurley put in a very impressive performance in the scratch race to finish 7th with Lydia Boylan 20th

Alas Martyn Irvine's day 1 bogey returned with a 11th places in the scratch and pursuit before being eliminated first in the devil. The good news though is he's started day 2 well with a 4th place in the kilo and is currently lying equal 11th with the Flying lap and probably his strongest event with the potential to pick up a lot of points in the points race to go

Caroline Ryan has made a strong start in the women's omnium, finishing 7th in both scratch and pursuit races to stand equal 5th after 2 events

Ryan Mullen has put in a very solid performance to finish 12th in the individual pursuit

Eoin Mullen still has to go in the kierin and Mel Spath will be doing the pursuit tomorrow. I think Shannon McCurley may be down to do the women's kierin but it's not absolutely clear as the start list is not properly uploaded

Beasty

Was hoping the weather conditions would help the Irish last night. There was certainly a rain delay in the early hours our time but alas the Sundrive-like conditions didn't seem to provide much of an advantage....

It looks like Martyn Irvine may have got away for an extended period in the points race within the Omnium as he picked up 4 of the "sprints". He couldn't take that elusive lap though and ended up 10th overall in the competition. It's probably a good place to start for the winter track season though with plenty of room for improvement based on prior years

The Irish Devil phobia hit again last night with Caroline Ryan being eliminated 2nd in the women's omnium. That leaves her in 10th overall moving into today's second day of competition