Change at top as CI to elect new president

CYCLING:CYCLING IRELAND (CI) will hold its agm tomorrow and, as always, a broad range of subjects will be covered. There will be change at the top, as CI president Miceal Concannon has indicated that he will not be going forward for another term.

Rory Wyley has been nominated by his Dan Morrissey Carrick Wheelers team as his replacement, and this will be voted upon at the meeting.

Niall Brosnan has been nominated by two clubs for the position of honorary treasurer, while four people are going up for election for two board positions. These are Anto Moran, Orla Hendron, Carl Fullerton and James McArdle.

A number of reports are available for download from the Cyclingireland.ie and Irishcycling.com websites, and these will be presented by the commissions concerned tomorrow.

There is a notable improvement in the quality and breadth of these, reflecting an increasing professionalism both within the commissions and CI itself.

These reports include an analysis of Ireland’s high performance achievements in 2009.

It was an impressive year for overseas competition, with several world-class performances. Philip Deignan won a stage and finished ninth overall in the Vuelta a Espana, Nicolas Roche was second and fourth plus 23rd overall in his first Tour de France and Daniel Martin was second overall in the Vuelta a Catalunya and eighth in the season-ending Tour of Lombardy.

David McCann broke Chris Boardman’s long-standing British record for the 40km time trial as part of his preparations for the World Championships in Mendrisio; he went on to place 11th there.

Multiple Irish records were set on road and track, and in the latter Irish riders had strong performances in World Cup events. Individual pursuit competitor David O’Loughlin was second and third in rounds of that series, while the team pursuit squad took fourth and fifth in those races.

The latter, unfortunately, suffered the loss of Paul Healion, a core member, who was killed in a car accident in August.

Young riders performed well, with several underlining their strong talents.

These included Mary Costelloe, who took top-five finishes in points and scratch races at the junior women’s European Championships.

Sam Bennett’s stage win and strong overall finish in the Tour of Ireland was another example.

Paralympic riders moved to a new level, as exemplified by the excellent performance in last weekend’s track championships in Manchester.

Catherine Walsh and Caroline Ryan finished an excellent second in the tandem pursuit, while a number of other riders took top-10 placings.

Plans to build on these results will be discussed at tomorrow’s agm. Among the proposals for 2010 are televised city-centre criteriums in Dublin and Belfast, which will have the goal of attracting more elite riders to compete in Ireland and also to recruit additional athletes to the sport.

WEEKEND FIXTURES: Saturday:CI agm, Cavan Crystal Hotel, 11am. Sunday:Munster XC League, Clashnacrona Woods, Dunmanway, Co Cork. First races at 11.30am.