Harrison blasts her way to bronze

A WESTPORT woman has won bronze in one of the country’s most prestigious track cycling events with just a month-and-a-half of training under her belt.

Orla Harrison claimed third out of eight competitors in the 500 metre decider in Cycling Ireland's National Senior Track Championships in Sundrive Velodrome in Dublin, securing bronze for the second time in two years.

It was the 23-year-old’s first competition since returning from several months of travelling throughout Asia.

Speaking to The Mayo News yesterday evening (Monday), Harrison said she did not expect to finish so well in her first competition since returning from her travels.

“It was insane, it wasn’t expected but it was amazing. Because I was up against a lot of girls that would do it all the time, so to come back and do a couple of hard months training and then get a bronze is great.”

Harrison, who spent some years out of cycling to pursue weightlifting, said she intends to take a step back from competition for her final year of her biomedical science degree in TU Dublin.

“I’m taking a bit of a step back from cycling but I might go back to weightlifting and see. It’s not as time-consuming,” she said.

Last year, Harrison lifted a record-breaking 205kg on the hex-bar to become the 62.5 kg, Under-23 World Weightlifting champion and the 62.5 kg women’s world champion.