Gutsy Race by Boylan in Scratch Almost Pays Dividends in London



Day three of the UCI 2016 Track Cycling World Championships saw Eoin Mullen finish in 33rd position in a time of 10.198 in the Men’s Sprint. This comes on the back of a gutsy performance by Lydia Boylan in the Scratch Race on Thursday night, where she led the field until 10 laps to go in the 10km race, before finishing in 20th place. In the Women’s Keirin Shannon McCurley’s final position was 21st; confirmation about whether this is within the Olympic qualification requirements or not will be confirmed shortly after these World Championships. The World Championships run from Wednesday 2nd March until Sunday 6th March.



In the Scratch Race Boylan conserved her energy in the first half of the race before launching a superb attack with 17
laps remaining, gaining a significant gap on the field. With 10 laps to go she was joined by three riders, before it whole race came together again. The race was won by GB’s Laura Trott, with Kirsten Wild (NED) second and Stephanie Roorda (CAN) in third place.



Earlier on Thursday McCurley was competing in the Women’s Keirin, where she missed the final qualification place for the second round when racing in the repechage. This is the first time that Ireland has qualified a woman in the World Championships in this sprint event. McCurley describes the race saying “Basically what the keirin is, it’s an 8 lap motor paced event where you have got a derny that leads you around that brings you up to pace for about six and a half laps, and then it pulls off,” the riders then compete for the rest of the race.



With Olympic qualification points up for grabs the race is on for minor places for all the riders, so all the riders are competing for positions. McCurley said “Well the first rider from each repechage goes straight through to the semi-finals, but everyone else is racing for the minor positions, so 13-25 I think it’s here, it’s just full on; everyone is racing for their position.” It will not be confirmed until after the World Championships whether McCurley’s 21st place is sufficient to qualify her for the Olympic Games in Rio.



In the Men’s Sprint Mullen was outside is personal best, recording a time of 10.198 in the qualifying rounds. Describing the sprint event Mullen said “Qualification starts with a flying 200m, top 24 qualify and then it goes 1 against 24 in knock out rounds, 2 against 23 and so on.” Unfortunately Mullen’s time was 0.151 outside the time that would have qualified him to the knock out rounds.


Racing continues today with Felix English competing in the Points Race. Racing at the UCI 2016 Track World Championships takes place in the London Lee Valley VeloPark from 2-6 March 2016. BBC and Eurosport will be broadcasting the highlights of the events throughout the championships.



RESULTS:

Women’s Keirin

1. VOGEL Kristina (GER)

2. MEARES Anna (AUS)

3. JAMES Rebecca (GBR)

21. McCURLEY Shannon (IRL)



Women’s Scratch Race

1. TROTT Laura (GBR)

2. WILD Kirsten (NED)

3. ROORDA Stephanie (CAN)

20. BOYLAN Lydia (IRL)