SUNDRIVE Track Team

Silver for Sundrive Men's Team Pursuit (John Caffrey, Ben Delaney, Sean Curtis, Billy Crosbie)  while our Women's A Team (Aisling Conlan, Susie Mitchell, Sofie Loscher and Claire Ni Reachtagain) put the pressure on the defending champions and secured victory! Both Teams made use of a sprinter for the opening laps - a tactic that worked very well!! 

This followed a Silver and Bronze in the Keirin for Michael Mulcahy and Billy Crosbie on the previous day. 

Congratulations to Men's Champion Ben Delaney and Bronze Medalist Claire Ni Reachtagain!

 We had five Sundrive ladies racing in the Manchester ACT International Women's Omnium as part of a 15 strong team representing the Cycling Ireland Women's Commission incl Anne Coleman, Susie Mitchell, Aisling Conlon, Sofie Loscher and new signing Claire Ni Reachtagain.

Congrats to Susie Mitchell (3rd) and Sofie Loscher (5th)
at the Stephen Roche Grand Prix,

Womens 500m TT : 1st Susie Mitchell (Gold),2nd Sofie Loscher (Silver)
Women's Scr : 2nd Susie Mitchell (Silver),3rd Sofie Loscher(Bronze)
Veteran 500m TT : 2nd Sean Curtis (Silver)
Veteran Scr: 2nd Sean Curtis (Silver)
Junior Men 500m TT : 1st Robert Kiely (Gold)
Junior Men Scratch : 1st Robert Kiely (Gold)
U12 100m TT : 1st Calum Byrne (Gold)

Congrats to all our medal winners!

 

National Omnium Championships:
Susie Mitchell (Gold) , Sofie Loscher (Bronze)

Susie showed her track talents with a well timed sprint finishing some lengths clear from where the remaining places which were less than half a wheel apart. The race was hampered by the windy conditions and nobody ever got more than a few lenghts clear and she was happy enough to take it to the sprint. She placed herself well going into the last corner some 300m from the line to ensure she was on the side of the road she wanted to sprint from. Headwind finish, so final launch came with about 100m to go with a second kick some 50m from the line ensured a clear win!

Sofie Loscher using her track prowess to power home in her debut Ladies Crit Race earning instant promotion to the A category!



Update : Sofie followed up with being promoted to A group where she placed 5th in her first week and 2nd the following week!

Susie Mitchell had a most successful World Masters campaign making the podium in a five events entered and finishing the week by taking the World Title in her final event the points race. After a superb display of tactics, control and sprinting, it still came down to the final sprint of the night! 

Her tally for the week was two Silvers (Pursuit and Team Pursuit) and two Bronze (Scratch and 500) to add to the Gold in the points race.

<Link to Article in Carlow Nationalist>

2015 Senior National Track Championship


   Sprint :  Susie (Silver) , Eimear (Gold)  and Michelle (Bronze)

Sundrive Ladies dominated proceeding at the Senior National Track Championships taking ten of the twelve medals on offer. Eimear Moran made a clean sweep of the Gold, with Susie Mitchell occupying the Silver Medal position. Michelle Mullen took Bronze in the Sprint and 500m TT. Eimear also nabbed an National Outdoor Record in the Flying 200 and her performances have brought her to the attention of the National Squad.

Eamonn Byrne in Action!

Eamonn Byrne secured the Men's Sprint event in a closely fought battle with Ronan Sherman (Black Rose). This was some compensation for an untimely illness which prevented him from defending his Team Sprint title earlier in the month. Eamon has had a fabulous year todate regularly competing in the rounds of the UK Sprinters League and actually taking the top spot on the podium in one of them
<Full Result>

Autumn League Starts Wed July 1st and runs for 9 more Weeks!!!

Clean Sweep!!

Sundrive Track Team retained the Men’s title despite the absence of Eoin Mullen who was recovering from a crash in the Keirin at the U23 Europeans where he secured a bronze in the Sprint.  Nothing too serious, just a dead leg and he should be recovered by the Senior C/ship at the end of the month. The experience of Keith Meghan, together Hugo Brennan and Eamonn Byrne was enough to secure the win. Indeed Keith Meghan was a late call into the team as he has been working on Team Pursuit this season. Keith has been a member of every winning  Sundrive Team Sprint team since the inaugural event.  Keith was also a member of the Sundrive Team Pursuit squad who narrowly deposed the Kilcullen team who have been champions for the past 3 years.  There was a huge body of work done in preparation for this event and full credit to Keith, Gwyn, Matt and Murt for a superb team performance.

In the Women’s Team Sprint Susie Mitchell and Sarah Gunn again retained their title and again bettered their record, but the gaps to the other teams are narrowing! Aine & Cliona were unfortunate to suffer a false start and then a foot pull on the rerun to deny them silver, but a fine debut performance from Kayleigh Gibbons and Michelle Mulen secured the bronze. In the Keirin, Tean Sprint teammates Susie & Sarah were dominant securing Gold and Silver.   The men’s Keirin was finished a semi final stage with Eamonn, Hugo and Mark Kiely securing places  for the next stage to be completed at the senior nationals

 It was another very strong performance from our members at the annual Duane Delaney Memorial Track GP at Sundrive Velodrome. Hugo Brennan was the winner of the A cat group and the only rider on the day to do a sub 12 second flying 200m TT with a whopping time of 11.94, followed hot on his heels by his team mate Eamonn Byrne in 2nd place with a time of 12.25 . Hugo also took wins in the Kilo Dash and 500m TT.

In the B cat, Paul Armstrong took 2nd, Susie Mitchell 3rd, Joe Benson 4th and Dave Sherlock 6th. In the C cat, David Mullin took 2nd, Richie Grant 3rd. In the Women cat, Sarah Gunn took 1st with Natalie Grieve and Aine McBride 5th & 6th.

Well done to all and thanks to everyone who contributed to a fantastic days racing as well as Ravens CC whom the event is ran on behalf of.

<Full results here>

Last week saw a small contingent of Irish riders compete in the European Masters Track Championship in Newport Wales. The timing of the event for some was not ideal coming just days after an exhausting weekend racing (for our female riders) at the Senior Nationals, but the prospect of getting some much needed time on the boards with a month to go to the World Masters was a prospect that had to be taken advantage of. The week started with Susie Mitchell competing in the Standing Start 500m TT and although posted a personal best, finished just outside the medals in 4^th .

Reduced entry levels compared to the world event meant that some age categories were combined which placed the legend that is Janet Birkmyre into the mix for our female riders to contend with. In the 3k pursuit Mitchell was drawn against the 18 times World Champion Birkmyre in the qualifying round and made the Gold/Silver ride off (2.36.922) with a time close to her winning time from the Worlds last year. She finished one second behind Birkmyre who lead from the start, but with this her first ride on the boards this year and first outing over this distance, all bodes well for the defence of her title in October. In the final Mitchell took the race to her GB opponent with a more aggressive start and was ahead for 4 of the six laps, however Birkmyre made her experience count and came with a late rush and posted a lifetime best to take the title. With speed work to come over next few weeks and having knocked another second off (2.35.920) in the final Mitchell was quite pleased with her performance and of course the Silver medal.

2013 Senior Track Championships
Eoin Mullen took a break from traininig in Switzerland and successfully defended his Men's Senior Sprint Title with relative ease. It is important to him to have right to wear his National Champions Jersey at International Competition and he is always proud to compete in his Sundrive colours. Most of the year he competes in the colours of the UCI.  He added the rain delayed Keirn title (deferred from earlier in the year) but opted not to compete in the Kilo as  he was starting to come down with a cold and he didn't want to take any eadge of his Keirin later in the day.

Susie Mitchell replicated her medal haul from 2013 with a Bronze in the Pursuit, and a Silver in the 500 in yet again another personal best as she etches ever closer to the outdoor record. Some more work to do there as on the day Lydia Boyle (Look Mum no Hands) set an new best time!  Also Sarah Gunn set PBs in both the Sprint and 500 finishing 4th in both and equipped herself quite well in the match sprints. One to watch!!

Sundrive enjoyed probably its most successful day ever on the track winning both Men and Women's Team Sprint National Championships and breaking both National Records enroute. To put icing on the cake two of Sundrive's newest riders Cliona Murray and Aine McBride took silver in a time that would have won the event last year. Susie Mitchell also won the Women's Keirin, with Sarah in 3rd, while the men were equal 3rd in the Team Pursuit.
The Men's Keirin was rained off to be completed later in the year)

Eoin Mullen riding in colours of the UCI whith whom he is currently on a training scholarship was the dominant male sprinter in a top class international field winning both the Sprint and the Keirin.  Congratulations to the Track Commission for assembling such a top class field and successfully running a UCI Class 2 event with riders from UK, Nederlands, Belgium, Canada, and New Zealand .  Sundrive's promising Junior rider,  Hugo Brennan,  also put his talents on display, breaking the Junior Stadium 200 record previously held by Eoin.  In the women's event we were ably represented by Sarah Gunn who podiumed in both the Sprint and Keirin

It is not without irony that when Irish cycling should be celebrating our latest World Champion, that the date coincides with the breaking of the Lance Armstrong story. Certainly over shadowed once again its news about doping that people are more interested in reading about. Susie Mitchell (Sundrive Track Team), took the Gold in the Women's 35-39 2km Pursuit when she overcame a 2 second deficit from the qualifying round. Yes indeed we are more interested in who cheated some years back than celebrating what is a remarkable achievement from a young woman who has risen to this pinnacle just five months after giving birth. This fact provides inspiration for all women, but even ignoring that, this is a remarkable athletic achievement in what is a relatively short time in the sport.




Full story on IrishCycling.com
 http://homepage.eircom.net/~mcnallyswordscc/Susie/SusieWorldChampion.htm

With ten more points added from the Senior Narionals The Sundrive Club won the 'Neenan Travel Track Team of the Year' with an impressive total of 35 points, 16 points clear of their nearest rivals. Strangely enough this is the first year that the Sundrive Club even featured in the top three, with previous  titles going to Lucan, Bray and Orwell. This was something we wanted to put right this season and we want ensure apart from the expected dominance of Eoin Mullen we specifically targetted the Team Events. .This year again we had a fantastic spread on the number of teams competing, with 31 clubs scoring points and all 4 provinces represented. We now feel we will the ones to beat for some time to come as we now feel our club has finally taken its place at the head of what is going on in the track scene!!  We do however expect stiff competition from the clubs tat actively support and promote track racing including Bray, Orwell and Cycling Pursuits and indeed from the newly formed Adamstown Cycling Team
Final Points
35pts Sundrive Track Team
19pts Banbridge
18pts Orwell
17pts Cycling Pursuits
15pts Lucan
14pts Kilcullen
11pts Bray, Look Mum No Hands
9pts Sorrento, Curran Racing
http://www.neenantrav.ie/track_club_of_the_year_competition/

All the squad training paid off when Sundrive took both titles with both Men and Women's Team secured Gold.  This a a feat repeated from 2009 but the Women's event was only a Demostration Level at this stage.  The men's team were lead out by Keith Meghan, followed by Eoin Mullen and Donal Bailey. Our dominance at sprint was followed up when Sarah Gunn and Susie Mitchell took the Womens title.  Eoin added a second title in his first year as a senior when he won the Keirin. Our ladies also took Silver in the Womens Team Pusuit (Demo) and Susie added a bronze in the Womens Keirin (Demo).  Our Men's Team showed great proise in the Team Pursuit and all the squad sessions were quite evident when both Men & Women's teams showed great skills in the technical aspects of all events.  Also bonus was a hatful of points in the Neenan Travel Track Team of the Year - a goal we set as a club at the start of the season.
http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_6516.shtml

Well the day we all could see coming from way back has finally arrived when Sundrive sprinter Eoin Mullen takes to the world stage in the London round of the UCI Track World Cup. This is a day we could see coming from a long way back, even before he won his first Junior title. He has come such a long way in such a relatively short period of time and that improvement has been accelerated greatly by being awarded a scholarship with the UCI. This weekend he will be competing in all three powerhouse events - Kilo, Keirin and Sprint. At eighteen years of age and already the Junior and Senior Irish Sprint record holder, there is great potential there and this is only the beginning for him!!

Three out of three for Susie when she took first Lady at the 4th Round of The Steevens Supercross Cup at St Annes Park today. She achieved this despite a heavy fall on gravel which left her with a deep cuts on her knee. She remounted immediately as was not willing to surrender her lead and goes into the final round in Tymon Park on December 3rd in prime position!

The course today was quite spectacular with some tricky downhill bits. Sundrive was also represented by Keith Meghan, new signing Ger McNamara and Hugh Byrne and were well supported by Alec Darragh, John Coates and Margaret, Ciaran Johnson and Caroline Martinez. A super club day out for riders and supporters

Another 'Mullen' National Championship at the National Youth Track Championships where the younger sister of Track Sprinter, Michelle Mullen took the Women's U16 500m TT title. She also posted the fastest Flying 200 qualifier in her section and dispatched  Rachael Kaye Mellor (Orwell) to reach the Sprint final. This final, and indeed all the medal ride offs in the sprint section were deferred to September 11th due to heavy rain and will be run preceeding the Interprovincial set for that date.

Also last weekend Noel Tonge added another Silver to the 5 he won at the IVCA Track Championship when he took the bunch sprint in his section in the IVCA Age Related Road Championship with one rider haven gone clear earlier in the race.

Sundrive Sprnter Eoin Mullen returned from Aigle where is on a sprint scolarship with the UCI to contest his home Championship. No suprise in him posting the fastest qualifying 200 time but Matthew Adair wasn't rolling over in the final and took the fight to Eoin but faster is faster and when that is combined with experience there was only ever going to be one result.

Eoin also added the Junior Kilo title before flying back to Switzerland to put the finishing touches to his preperation for the Junior European Track Chamionships where he will contest Sprint, Kil and Keirin.

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IVCA Track Masters

Meanwhile the clubs Veteran riders ran riot in the IVCA Masters taking 11 medals (2 Gold, 7 Silver and 3 Bronze) finishing with a Silver in the 135+ Team Sprint. This was even more special as it was the only team comprised of riders from the same club and posted a respectable time enroute!