Jennifer O'Reilly, Caroline Ryan and Ciara Horne have just finished nearly three months training at the World Cycling Centre (WCC) in Aigle, Switzerland, where they have gone from strength to strength. Take two former rowers and one former triathlete and you get Ireland's ever-improving 3,000m team pursuit squad, newly converted to the cycling with experience ranging from 12 to 18 months.
At the European Championships in early November, the trio broke the Irish national record, clocking 3:37.072 on the velodrome in Pruszkow, Poland.
O'Reilly, Ryan and Horne returned to the WCC to prepare for the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics in Cali, Colombia, December 16-18, and the rising Irish team has continued to bring that time down in training.
It is a very positive sign just one week before the Cali round of the World Cup, according to their coach Brian Nugent. "They have made massive improvements, dropping 15 seconds in one year," he said. "Ireland does not have a history of women's track cycling and we are really committed to bringing them up to scratch.
"We are delighted with the progress they have made while training at the World Cycling Centre. They are knocking their times down and morale is high."
"We had three top five finishers at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and we are looking to go better than that in London," said Brian Nugent.
