Boylan takes Elite Woman’s Title

28Jun/150

Boylan takes Elite Woman’s Title

The cream of Irish Women Cyclists lined up in Omagh on Saturday afternoon to contest the UCI ranked National Championships. The large field of almost sixty riders included top professionals such as Olivia Dillon (VisitDallas) and Fiona Meade (Fearless Femmes) as well as the best of the local talent.

By the end of the first lap a group of twelve women had broken away. In this group were Olivia Boylan (WNT), Lydia Gurley (Bonito), Ciara Kinch (Towers CC), Eve McCrystal and Caroline Ryan (Garda CC), Aqua Blue's Siobhan Horgan and Francine Meehan as well as Phoenix CC's Claire McIlwaine among others.

The riding in this group was hard and there were constant attacks which evntually lead to the group splitting in two.

Among the strong chasers were Mel Spath who missed the original break and Phoenix riders Amy Brice and Judith Russell.

In the final five hundred metres, Boylan put the hammer down and made her move to take victory.

She was followed in by Lydia Gurley of Bonita while bronze went to Olivia Dillon (Visit Dallas) after the photofinish equipment was consulted.

Lydia, who rode for Northern Ireland in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow was delighted with her win as well her large group of followers who couldn't wait to begin the celebrations.

The remainder of the original break took the next few places while the bunch sprint was taken by Judith Russell of Phoenix despite the fact that she had crashed earlier. She was followed in by Amy Brice and with Claire McIlwaine already home safe Phoenix CC took the team prize.