CYCLING:DEFENDING CHAMPION Robin Seymour and Ulster cyclocross league victor Roger Aiken look set for a ferocious two-up tussle for the Irish cyclocross championship title in St Anne's Park in Raheny tomorrow, with the duo having shown a higher standard than their competitors this season.
Seymour, now 40 years of age, is vying for what would be a staggering 18th national title in the event.
Aiken has won twice, taking the gold medal in early 2005 and 2008, and has shown fine form in recent months. He won two races in the Supercross League and dominated the Ulster series, taking victory in each of the six rounds.
Seymour accepts that the battle could be very tight. "I don't know how it will go for me, it is very hard to say. I hope to be in the mix anyway," he told The Irish Timesyesterday. "Myself and Roger have been battling it out this season. I won the second round of the Supercross League in Swords but felt terrible in the race. Roger punctured . . . I don't think I would have beaten him otherwise.
“I had a good day in Corcaigh Park after that, but crashed. He didn’t turn up in St Anne’s for round four, so I didn’t have a chance to see how we would have compared there.”
The national championship circuit is very similar to the course used in St Anne’s in November.
“It’s going to be 95 per cent the same,” said course designer Greg May yesterday. “We will just change one or two of the corners. It is such a good course for the spectators that we didn’t want to really modify it.”
May said the circuit is very different to that used when the nationals were held there two years ago.
“That was much more a mountainbike course, whereas this one has moved more towards an open-style Euro circuit. The course takes the best bits the roadies can do, then put in some challenges that will suit the mountainbike guys, such as the large drop-off we have.”
Seymour and Aiken will be first and second on the grid, ahead of Evan Ryan and Matt Adair, and so the battle will be on from the drop of the flag.
Connor McConvey, who finished second to Seymour in the Supercross round held in the same venue, is not taking part. He’d be a medal contender but is getting ready for a season with the An Post Grant Thornton Seán Kelly team in Belgium.
WEEKEND FIXTURES
Saturday – Irish cyclo-cross championships, St Anne’s Park, Raheny. Racing starts 11.30am, main event at 1pm.
