McCauley in test of strength

CyclingIrish mountainbike rider Jenny McCauley gets her Olympics under way this morning when she lines out in the women's MTB cross-country event in Athens. The Bray rider will compete against 29 others in the 31.5 kilometre event, which takes in five laps of a physically demanding and technical course.

Today's event marks McCauley's first ever participation in the Games and is targeting a place in the top 20. Together with men's competitor Robin Seymour, she arrived in Athens from the Irish training camp in Cyprus on Saturday and has ridden the course on several occasions since.

Seymour lines out in his event tomorrow as part of a 50-man field. The riders will compete over seven laps of the same course, with the Wicklow man aiming for a top-16 finish. He finished 34th in Sydney.

"Both riders seem in good shape and are looking forward to their races," said team manager Geoff Seymour yesterday. "They arrived in Athens from their training base in Cyprus and got to ride the course on Monday, Tuesday and today. It seems very tough - every bit of uphill is hard. It's not that the climbs are very steep, but the ground is soft and very dusty and so that makes the going tough.

"Part of the course was damaged by fire a few days ago so they have had to change it around a bit, adding an additional technical section to it. One concern I have is the heat - both races start at 11 a.m. so they will be right into the midday sun. At least we are up on a mountain so that should make it a little more bearable."