Cycling Ireland’s Head Coach Nominated Following Outstanding Year of Achievements
Head Coach of Cycling Ireland, Brian Nugent, has been nominated for the Philips Sports Manager of the Year award, having won the monthly award in February of this year. The Philips Sports Manager of the Year is an award for the person considered the most outstanding Irish sports manager or coach of a particular year. In a year where Irish cyclists, under the tutelage of Nugent, won 15 medals at World and European level across many disciplines, the Irish coach is well deserving of this nomination. The Awards ceremony takes place tomorrow, Wednesday 10th December, in the Shelbourne hotel, Dublin, where the recipient of the overall award will be contested by the twelve winners of the Philips Sports Manager of the Month Awards.
Born in Cookstown, Nugent started coaching National Track teams in 2004, before becoming a full-time coach in 2006, working mainly with track cycling riders focusing on the junior and women’s categories. In 2010 he became the Head Coach for the Paracycling Team, where in 2012 they brought home 5 medals from the Paralympic Games in London, including two world titles courtesy of Mark Rohan. Following this successful campaign Nugent was appointed as the Head Coach of Cycling Ireland, overseeing the Paracycling and Olympic programme in 2012. In February he was awarded Philips Sports Manager of the Month following a fantastic Track Cycling World Championships, which saw Ireland’s Martyn Irvine win a silver medal in the Scratch Race, and Ryan Mullen finishing just outside the medals in the Individual Pursuit, in 4th place.
After a successful year which included Ireland’s first ever Junior medals at the Junior European Track Championships Nugent is happy with the progress of the squad saying “We’re building a programme, and we are very ambitious, I’m delighted with the progress of the entire team, having won medals at four separate world championships this year.” Over the past four years Ireland has won 60 international medals at the World and European level, demonstrating the dominance of the Irish Team internationally.
The winner of the Philips Sports Manager of the Year will be announced tomorrow afternoon from the event at the Shelbourne Hotel.