The future is very bright indeed for Women’s Cycling.  Avon Ri in Blessington Co Wicklow was the venue for the launch of the Girls 2020 Talent Team.  20 Bright and Talented girls attended the inaugural camp for Cycling Irelands female talent team.  

Spearheaded by Development Coach Orla Hendron the day began with a skills and ride preparation session.   Rosin Kennedy demonstrated to an attentive bunch what exactly they should be wearing on a cold winter’s day and what food and essentials they should bring with them.  Kate Rudd then went through a bike check, demonstrating how important it is to check your equipment before you head out.  Nicola Oldham and Ger Ivory followed up with a warm up and skills session to make sure everyone was well warmed up and prepared for the open roads.

The girls were split into two age groups with the 12/13 year old being coached by Ger Ivory and Kate Rudd and supported by Alan Neenan.  The more senior 14- 16 year olds were looked after by Roisin Kennedy and Orla Hendron and supported by Paddy Doran.   Both groups had really good sessions going through some drills such as cornering and pacing.  All the Coaches were very impressed with the standard of skill and fitness of both groups and very excited about the future of this bunch of girls.  

After Lunch Head of Development and mentor to the Women  Paddy Doran gave a very informative talk on training for the Youth riders, going through a lot of the information that is covered in his book on Youth Cycling.  The booklet was distributed to all the riders along with a nutrition book.  Both of these books will provide a very useful tool for both riders and parents in their future development.

Orla Hendron then went through more of the detail of the rest of the programme.

The day was concluded with a very inspirational talk /work shop by former World Class Rower and HP rider Heather Boyle.  Heather gave an insight into the life, dreams and goals of a young aspiring World Class rower, by engaging the girls in a bit of a workshop and getting them to come up with some very interesting answers to questions she put to them.

We would like to thank all the Coaches who gave of their time to make the day such a success and looking forward to the next camp in February.