McCurley Marginally Misses Semi-Final In Keirin At 2014 UCI Track Cycling World Cup

On the closing day of the second UCI Track Cycling World Cup of the season in London Shannon McCurley came second in the Repechage of the Women's Keirin, just missing out on a place in the Semi-Finals, and finishing in 13th place overall. Fellow sprinter Eoin Mullen also showed great progress, qualifying for the 1/16 Finals before finishing in 22nd place overall. In the Women's Omnium Caroline Ryan closed the event with a gutsy performance in the Points Race, climbing two places to finish in 21st place. This rounded up the Irish performances in the second World Cup on the Track Cycling 2014/15 calendar, which ran from 5th - 7th December.

Shannon McCurley, relocated from her native Australia to Majorca, the base of the Irish team, where she has been focusing solely on the sprint based Keirin event. This focus is paying off based on her repechage performance in the Keirin this afternoon, where she came second in a top class field. Eoin Mullen also performed well today, finishing 22nd in the Men's Sprint, after qualifying out of the first round to the 1/16 Finals. Speaking from the track in London Head Coach Brian Nugent said "Shannon had a great day today, and has made a massive step up. Eoin did really well getting through to the next round. This is the first time that he has made the cut off at this level, and with this standard of field."

In the Women's Omnium Caroline Ryan, who has had a below par weekend, rode a brave and gutsy race in the final Points Race, lapping the field and gaining extra points in the last event of the day. Nugent said "Caroline was one of three riders to lap the field in the Points Race, she used her head and was tactically astute. She had a good race and good performance to put a shine on what was a hard weekend."

The next World Cup in the Series is the third and final World Cup in Cali, Colombia on the 17-18 January, with the World Championships taking place in Paris, France, a month later.