O’Loughlin’s hopes of going to China still alive
Feature
Martin Ayres
THE saga of David O’Loughlin’s progress from novice to world-class track cyclist took a new turn last week in Manchester when the Mayo man achieved his best ever performance in the World Championships.
Competing against the cream of international track cycling, O’Loughlin raced to sixth place in the 4km individual pursuit event and smashed his own Irish record by a massive 4.4 seconds. To clock 4.20 was a startling improvement. O’Loughlin and his coach had expected “around a 4.23” but he doesn’t believe in adhering to a strict schedule.
O’Loughlin has made made no secret of his Olympic ambitions since he switched from road racing to the track some 18 months ago. The past six months have seen him travelling the world - Beijing, Los Angeles and Copenhagen - in the quest for qualifying points. Has he done enough to bring this story to a happy conclusion in Beijing next August?
For the moment, all O’Loughlin will say is that he is “fairly confident” of making the cut. The world governing body, the Union Cycliste International (UCI) is due to announce the qualifiers in a few days time. Eighteen places are up for grabs and as number six in the world O’Loughlin should be a certainty. However, the rankings are based on a number of events and the complicated format tends to favour the bigger cycling nations.
O’Loughlin is understandably taking a cautious line. He has been here before. Back in June 2004 he triumphed in the All-Ireland road race championship, leaving all the other contenders trailing in his wake. He looked to have a booked his place in the Athens Games. But barely had the sweat dried on his brow when the selectors told him another rider had been given the nod.
“It wasn’t nice,” he recalls with typical understatement. Such a setback might have sent a lesser sportsman into retirement, but O’Loughlin got on with his life, and underlined his prowess by winning the All-Ireland road title again in 2005 and 2007.
Meanwhile, he also travelled over to the indoor track in Newport, south Wales for some track training. The move was prompted by a bout of flu. “I was sick, couldn’t train, and watched the track worlds on TV. I was impressed by the spectacle and speed and thought I’d like to give it a try,” he said.
While Irish cyclists have won every honour in pro’ road racing, thanks to Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche, track racing is very much the poor relation. The last Irishman to win a track medal was sprinter Harry Reynolds in 1896! So O’Loughlin’s venture onto the track looked like a very long shot.
However, he found his feet and rapidly advanced into the top 10 of the word rankings.
Last week’s World Championships took place at Manchester’s indoor Velodrome, which is the nearest O’Loughlin has to a home venue. He arrived there last week knowing that he was in good shape but aware he would need the ride of his life to keep his Olympic dream alive. In the event he duly delivered, beating his heat opponent, World No 1 Phillip Thuaux of Australia by over five seconds in their qualifying match.
“I was delighted with my time, you’ve got to be pleased when you do a personal best in a world championship, but I was disappointed at the result,” he said. Although O’Loughlin had upped his speed it wasn’t quite enough to put him in medal contention, and he had to settle for sixth fastest on the day.
A top-five place would have meant automatic qualification for Beijing, but O’Loughlin reckons “I’ve done enough to qualify, I’m fairly confident.”
O’Loughlin’s rise through the world rankings hasn’t come about by chance. Apart from the sheer hard work, O’Loughlin puts his track success down to high-level coaching, good back-up and the experience gained over the past two seasons.
“I’ve been working with the British coach Simon Jones and more recently with Cycling Ireland’s national coach Tommy Evans,” he said. Until this year O’Loughlin had to build his track campaign around road racing commitments for America’s Navigators team. But now he is sponsored by the new Galway-based Pezula Racing Team, who give him a free hand in planning his programme. “Pezula have been a huge help, they have made it all possible,” he added.
After reaching a peak for Manchester, O’Loughlin is now taking a week’s break from the bike with his wife, Mary, at their home near Cong. Then the work starts again with a build-up programme of track training and road work. Stage racing is ideal endurance preparation for the pursuit, and O’Loughlin will contest the FBD Insurance Rás in late May, when a stage finish in Claremorris will be an added incentive for the O’Loughlin and his Pezula men.
Overshadowing everything is the Games in August. As he approaches his 30th birthday, O’Loughlin is at the peak of his career. Here’s hoping that when the UCI complete their calculations the figures fall in O’Loughlin’s favour, he certainly deserves it.
