Power now gearing up for Athens

CYCLING/Column:  With less than a month before the Olympic road race, Ciarán Power and Mark Scanlon are preparing in very different ways for the biggest one-day event of the year.

Power has been given time away from racing with the Navigators team to build specifically towards the August 14th target, with the Waterford rider doing extensive motorpacing work before heading out to the pre-Olympic camp in Cyprus on the 26th of this month.

Before then, he will ride the Tour of Liége with a yet-to-be announced Irish team between July 18th-21st. "The plan is to train before and after the stages there, using the race to build for Athens," he said yesterday.

"Since I turned pro I haven't had an opportunity to prepare specifically for one event, so it is great to be able to do that now. The team have given me the leeway to do that, so I have been doing a lot of work behind the motorbike and will use the race in Liége to further build form."

Scanlon, of course, is currently taking part in the Tour de France. While he will undoubtedly be very fatigued after the three-week race, he is hoping the race will bring his form to a peak for August 14th.

Ireland's two mountainbike riders, Robin Seymour and Jenny McCauley, will line out this weekend in the national MTB championships in Kilruddery Estate, Bray. Seymour will be aiming to win his 11th straight gold medal in the event, while McCauley will square up against Tarja Owens, who has taken nine consecutive wins.

Seymour and McCauley will follow Power and Scanlon out to Cyprus on April 3rd, completing their own preparations there.

This Sunday's championships will be held in Kilruddery Estate, near Bray, on a course similar to that used in 2002. With 50 UCI points and the national champion's jersey up for grabs in both the men's and women's senior event, a strong turnout is expected.

Seymour and co will battle it out over seven laps of the course, while the women, juniors, veterans and masters will complete five. There will also be shorter events for sports and underage riders.

The national downhill championships scheduled for Bray Head on Saturday have been postponed due to technical difficulties. It will be run off at a later date.

Finally, entries are closing for the M Donnelly Junior Tour of Ireland, which starts on August 3rd. Contact Alice Sheratt for details at 087 2929913.

Entries are also due for the Kerry Youth Tour. Race organiser Micheál Concannon can be reached at 087 2802071.

FIXTURES

Saturday: National Downhill Championships, Bray Head, postponed. Track racing league, Sundrive Park. Accreditation 10.15 a.m. Ballivor Grand Prix, Ballivor, 7.30 p.m.

Sunday: National MTB XC championships, Kilruddery Estate (course entrance signposted from Bray-Greystones road). Underage race noon, other events at 1.30 p.m. Paddy Neary Memorial, Dundalk, 1 p.m. Tommy Sheehan Memorial, Carrick-on-Suir, underage races noon, other events 1 p.m. IVCA 50-mile age standard championship, Batterstown, 9.30 a.m.