Cycling Ireland has ratified a host of new national records, with improvements being confirmed this week across a range of distances and disciplines.
National road race champion David McCann highlighted his ability against the clock when he set a new mark of 18 minutes and 21 seconds for the ten mile time trial on August 17th. One week later, under 18 rider Thomas Martin broke the existing national 25 Mile Junior Time Trial Record when he covered the distance in 55 minutes and 44 seconds on August 24th.
Louise Moriarty broke the women’s ten mile time trial record on August 17th, recording a time of 23 minutes and 1 second. On August 31st she went almost a minute faster in posting a ride of 22 minutes and 8 seconds, but this mark was improved the same day by Heather Wilson, who did a ride of 22 minutes and 1 second.
August was clearly a good month for new records. On the 17th of the month Roger Aiken and Leslie Creighton posted a time of 21 minutes and 10 seconds for the national ten mile tandem time trial. The bar was subsequently raised when Aiken and Tommy Evans pooled their strength on August 31st and went over two minutes faster with their time of 19 minutes and 4 seconds.
Another tandem pairing of Gareth Crothers and Paul McMinn also raced to success when they set a new mark of 52 minutes and 35 seconds for the 25 mile distance on August 24th.
Several new standards were set at the Paralympic World Cycling Championships in Switzerland a month and a half ago. Cathal Miller set a Locomotor Disorder (LC1) record of 5 minutes 3.169 seconds on September 11th, then posted a time of 1 minute and 12.850 seconds for the kilometre time trial one day later.
First time competitor Enda Smyth set two new marks in the Cerebral Palsy (CP4) category, covering 1 kilometre in 1 minute 19.576 seconds on September 11th and 3 kilometres in 4 minutes 0.429 seconds on September 24th.
The tandem pairing of Michael Delaney and pilot David Peelo broke two records in the Blind and Visually Impaired competition. On September 11th they raced the 1 kilometre time trial in 1 minute 9.623 seconds, then one day later covered 4 kilometres in 4 minutes 44.848 seconds.
More recently, Navigators Insurance professional David O’Loughlin made a very successful pursuit debut in Newport velodrome, breaking the ten year old national record with a time of 4 minutes 29.909 seconds.
Three long distance time trial records also fell in what was an important year for endurance racing. Paul O’Donoghue set a time of 18 hours 37 minutes and 8 seconds in his Mizen Head to Fair Head bid on July 23rd. Padraig Marrey then beat this on August 27th, covering the distance in 17 hours 48 minutes 28 seconds.
Finally, Dave McLoughlin recorded a new 24 hour mark when he raced 456.4 miles on July 23rd.