Cycling Ireland has opted to skip the 2022 UCI Road World Championships to be held from September 18-25 in Wollongong, Australia, with the federation emphasising the need to take a more selective approach to competition participation because of the rising cost of travelling for events post COVID-19.
“In the face of hugely increased costs for targeted High-Performance events already completed and planned for the remainder of 2022, competing in Australia will stretch our resources far beyond what has been anticipated this year,” High-Performance Director, Iain Dyer said.
“The UCI Road World Championships is also an event where success is far from assured. For the road riders, attending the European Championships in all categories this year was a significant commitment and one we felt we could manage effectively. The World Championships in Australia is a different proposition altogether.”
Ireland is not alone in facing budgetary issues with Cycling New Zealand, which lost its major sponsor last year, asking athletes to help fund their own campaigns according to a report on independent New Zealand news site Stuff.
Cycling Ireland placed its priority on the European Championships where it fielded athletes in the road, track and BMX events in August.
In the time trial, national champion Ben Healy finished sixth in the men’s event, national champion Kelly Murphy 15th and Joanna Patterson 17th in the women’s event.
In the road race, national champion Alice Sharpe finished 29th in the women’s race and Sam Bennett finished fifth, supported by national champion Rory Townsend, Ryan Mullen, Eddie Dunbar, and Matthew Teggart in the men’s race.
Dyer acknowledged the rising expense of fielding teams to races post-COVID-19, and the aim for Cycling Ireland to focus its efforts more strategically on major events.
“It bears mentioning that going forward, the High-Performance Unit will need to be extremely focussed on achieving our strategic aims in major championship events across all disciplines. With the spend on all events becoming so high post-Covid, it’s important that a projected outcome from attending an event is linked to key development aims, a qualifying process, or Olympic and Paralympic success,” Dyer said.
“It is not a given in future that we will attend everything we qualify for or take up all our allocated quota slots. We have already seen this year several nations make strategic decisions on attending events based on available resources and budgets, so…
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