Steveb
November 18-2006, 07:05 PM
By Shane Stokes
Nov 18, 2006,
© Shane Stokes
Following years working as a volunteer in the sport, funding from the Irish Sports Council means that Frank Campbell has now a full time position within Cycling Ireland. Earlier this autumn he was appointed as the new High Performance Director within the federation, and will work closely with riders and officials in order to improve the future prospects for Irish riders.
One of the projects Campbell is currently working concerns the possible crossover of some of the country’s top road riders to track racing. David O’Loughlin’s recent breaking of the ten year old Irish pursuit record was encouraging, and now later this month a group of professional and international riders will travel over to the velodrome in Ghent in order to be assessed on the boards there.
Those travelling are O’Loughlin, Nicolas Roche, Mark Scanlon, David McCann, Ciarán Power, Ryan Connor, Dermot Nally, Paul Healion, Ray Clarke, Michael Murray and Miceal Concannon. Campbell and coach Brian Nugent will also depart on November 27th for the session, which will last three to four days. In that time the riders will undergo testing carried out by Discovery Channel doctor Dag van Elslande.
Frank Campbell has been in Beijing in recent days, checking out things in advance of the 2008 Olympics. However earlier this month, Irishcycling.com talked with him about his new role, the track assessment and other topics relating to his appointment.
Shane Stokes: Congratulations on your new appointment. Can you let me know what it will entail?
Frank Campbell: Well, to a certain extent it is to carry over from where we have been going. This will enable me to put the extra time in that was required. What I have been doing so far as meeting all of the commissions - mountain bike, road, track, the women's commission, underage, in order to see what plans they have and where they think they were going. I’ve then tried to pull them into a cohesive plan which can bring cycling forward by lifting performances. We have to look at where we have been chasing prizes and medals in the past, then see where we are going now… it has been a matter of talking to them.
Track is going to play a much more major part in the future, as regards where cycling in Ireland is going. I have arranged for week’s get-together later this month… it started off as a get-together with all the International riders to debrief, to let them know what is happening, and we have turned it into a track taster in Ghent for a week at the end of November.
We are bringing Scanlon, Roche, Power, O’Loughlin, McCann. They will spend three days on the track where we will run them through tests with a doctor. We will debrief them, letting them know what is happening, and see who is going to take to the track. We have used a couple of the younger guys as a sort of benchmark, namely Michael Murray and Miceal Concannon, who rode the Europeans and the world championships on the track this year in the under 23 category.
We are bringing the other guys along. We have brought in a Belgian coach along with Brian Nugent, who has been looking after track up until this stage. I think it is important that we continue to work with the volunteers, having been a volunteer for so long. One person isn't going to change things overnight, we need to work with the people that we have got there and maybe bring in the extra experience that we need from outside.
SS: Is bringing those professionals over to Belgian something that you are doing with a view to possibly getting them to try out for the Olympics?
FC: Yes. Initially it is a short, sharp fix, taking guys that we know are good road men. We have picked time trialists for pursuiting, we have picked Power more for points and scratch racing. Scanlon is mad keen as well at the moment, due to his change in team and change in surroundings. I'm getting more e-mails from him than I have ever got…he has such an interest in what is going on.
What I want to also try to do is have a database there of interested people. We are starting at the top but we will run more of these taster sessions to try to cover everybody. Also the disability commission need track riders who will ride tandem for them. While we may have a guy who won't make the national squad for the pursuit, he may well be more than good enough to ride the tandem. Those places for the national team are so limited when you get to Elite - we are only talking about a few guys, but those other places are available.
SS: You mention some riders such as Roche, Scanlon, McCann and O’Loughlin - will they do the pursuit?
FC: Well, McCann is looking at the pursuit and we are also bringing Dermot Nally from Spain. I have been talking to him throughout the year - he's actually back racing again, he lives near the track and used to be a track rider. He is coming. We are bringing Ryan Connor, who is the under 23 time trial champion, with the pursuit in mind. We are looking at those sort of people at this stage.
Mark Scanlon is very keen at the moment, sounding very motivated. I have been talking to him in the past three or four weeks and it is great to hear that he is back with that sort of keenness again.
SS: Do you know what the situation was with Dermot Nally? He was going well a couple of years ago but then went off the scene.
FC: What happened is that he thought he had a contract signed with one of the Spanish Continental teams but it fell through. So he went through a bad period for a couple of months. We got him back on the bike around May and he ended up having some very good results in Spain towards the end of the year. He raced with Daniel Martin, who was out riding with VC La Pomme. Daniel phoned me and said that there was an Irish guy out there that was doing really well. I knew who it was and we talked to him, so he is back and is keen. We are actually shipping a bike out to him today, so we'll have him on the track bike for a few weeks before he comes over to Belgium.
SS: During the year, will you be travelling away with teams?
FC: Yes, basically the idea would be that… I won't be at every event, but the idea is to put a structure in place. We are pulling a pool of mechanics and masseurs together who will work with all disciplines. You won't have a guy who is just a road mechanic - he will have to do track and mountain biking. The same thing for the masseurs, we want them to cross over. There will be individual managers or, as I call them, coordinators looking after road, track and mountain bike, and then above that there will be me overseeing the whole lot. There may well be times when I will go to track events but there will also be the track coordinator there.
It is our intention to try to do the Moscow and Manchester World Cup track events, and the boys who are in America are hoping to do the Los Angeles one. That will be of no real expense to us due to the fact that they are based in America. That could help out there. It really all depends on what happens at this meeting in Belgium, to be honest with you.
SS: Is correct that the Irish Sports Council are funding your role?
FC: Yes, that is correct. They are funding the directors post, yes.
SS: Can that then lead to an increase in the general funding which is available?
FC: Well, we are in the middle of negotiating and that is one of the things we have to prepare, the High Performance Plan. That has to be into the Irish Sports Council before the end of the month. So there is a lot more paperwork involved as well in trying to put together a complete plan and structure for them. We are hoping that then that if we can bring them better results and a plan that looks like it is going to be worthy, that we can talk to them about an increase in funding as well.
SS: Obviously the track focus has worked out very well for British Cycling, due to the fact that there were many more medals up for grabs.
FC: There are a lot more of them all right, so you're increasing the possibilities there. And they have proven that it works well with road guys… guys can carry out a road programme and then just come away with a five or six day period leading up to the major events.
SS: There was talk of a planned track for Northern Ireland - do you know what stage that is that?
FC: There are still a number of plans through the Olympic funding in Northern Ireland. One of the things of course that Cycling Ireland are pushing for is an indoor track but there is nothing firm there at this stage. The next stage of funding is due to be announced within the next four to six weeks and hopefully at that point we will have some interested parties.
SS: Is correct to say that while things are more advanced in the North, that there is nothing much happening for now in the South?
FC: I know they were talking about it there be the possibility of a velodrome as part of the second phase of Abbotstown, but that is being talked about and is a long way down. I know the fact that the Olympics will be in London in 2012 means that there is a fund in the North of Ireland of eighty million pounds sterling for Olympic facilities. The first chunk of that has gone too 50 metre pool, and I know that other sports had to bid for a piece of that. I know that Cycling Ireland are actively pursuing the chance that we might get the funding for an indoor track in the North. I know that those things have to be built by 2010.
SS: Do you expect be doing work with the Sean Kelly team as well?
FC: Yes, the new Sean Kelly team is sort of the ultimate goal with an Irish-based cycling. I have been fairly heavily involved in it but with the new role, I will have to a certain extent stand back from that. But we are still using the Academy and next year we are launching a new Cycling Ireland Academy team based in Belgium which is, if you like, a step down from the Continental-registered team. It will give guys a stepping stone between racing in Ireland and racing on the Continental circuit. That would still be based in Belgium and I will still be working very closely with Kurt and Sean. In fact, I am actually meeting the two of them this evening to talk through the race programs…because we have made sure that we have riders available.
There is no point in me sending away an Irish team if they are already in a UCI-ranked event at the time. It is really all about, in these years of the Olympics, gathering points to get us qualified for the road and the track.
That is the same case for mountain biking. But there are some hard decisions to be made, there are a lot of choices and really, to me, my main aim would be the 2012 Olympics in London, as opposed to try to do everything for Beijing. I just don't think it is physically possible, and I think to waste time, money and effort at this stage trying to cram at all in to a year period would just be wrong.
SS: In mentioning the guys that you talked about earlier, are they looking at possibly doing the track events in the 2008 Games?
FC: Yes, we are hoping that we can convert, for instance, the pursuiters over much easier, as David O'Loughlin proved. David deliberately did his trial straight after the Worlds because we knew he would be in optimum condition, right down to the fact that he finished his time trial on the Thursday and he flew out on that same evening from Salzburg. So there was no time where he was hanging about.
We know what is possible, if we use him as the benchmark - he is one of our best time trialists and he was able to convert that time over. Let's hope that McCann and Ryan Connor and some of these other guys can produce similar times.
Nov 18, 2006,
© Shane Stokes
Following years working as a volunteer in the sport, funding from the Irish Sports Council means that Frank Campbell has now a full time position within Cycling Ireland. Earlier this autumn he was appointed as the new High Performance Director within the federation, and will work closely with riders and officials in order to improve the future prospects for Irish riders.
One of the projects Campbell is currently working concerns the possible crossover of some of the country’s top road riders to track racing. David O’Loughlin’s recent breaking of the ten year old Irish pursuit record was encouraging, and now later this month a group of professional and international riders will travel over to the velodrome in Ghent in order to be assessed on the boards there.
Those travelling are O’Loughlin, Nicolas Roche, Mark Scanlon, David McCann, Ciarán Power, Ryan Connor, Dermot Nally, Paul Healion, Ray Clarke, Michael Murray and Miceal Concannon. Campbell and coach Brian Nugent will also depart on November 27th for the session, which will last three to four days. In that time the riders will undergo testing carried out by Discovery Channel doctor Dag van Elslande.
Frank Campbell has been in Beijing in recent days, checking out things in advance of the 2008 Olympics. However earlier this month, Irishcycling.com talked with him about his new role, the track assessment and other topics relating to his appointment.
Shane Stokes: Congratulations on your new appointment. Can you let me know what it will entail?
Frank Campbell: Well, to a certain extent it is to carry over from where we have been going. This will enable me to put the extra time in that was required. What I have been doing so far as meeting all of the commissions - mountain bike, road, track, the women's commission, underage, in order to see what plans they have and where they think they were going. I’ve then tried to pull them into a cohesive plan which can bring cycling forward by lifting performances. We have to look at where we have been chasing prizes and medals in the past, then see where we are going now… it has been a matter of talking to them.
Track is going to play a much more major part in the future, as regards where cycling in Ireland is going. I have arranged for week’s get-together later this month… it started off as a get-together with all the International riders to debrief, to let them know what is happening, and we have turned it into a track taster in Ghent for a week at the end of November.
We are bringing Scanlon, Roche, Power, O’Loughlin, McCann. They will spend three days on the track where we will run them through tests with a doctor. We will debrief them, letting them know what is happening, and see who is going to take to the track. We have used a couple of the younger guys as a sort of benchmark, namely Michael Murray and Miceal Concannon, who rode the Europeans and the world championships on the track this year in the under 23 category.
We are bringing the other guys along. We have brought in a Belgian coach along with Brian Nugent, who has been looking after track up until this stage. I think it is important that we continue to work with the volunteers, having been a volunteer for so long. One person isn't going to change things overnight, we need to work with the people that we have got there and maybe bring in the extra experience that we need from outside.
SS: Is bringing those professionals over to Belgian something that you are doing with a view to possibly getting them to try out for the Olympics?
FC: Yes. Initially it is a short, sharp fix, taking guys that we know are good road men. We have picked time trialists for pursuiting, we have picked Power more for points and scratch racing. Scanlon is mad keen as well at the moment, due to his change in team and change in surroundings. I'm getting more e-mails from him than I have ever got…he has such an interest in what is going on.
What I want to also try to do is have a database there of interested people. We are starting at the top but we will run more of these taster sessions to try to cover everybody. Also the disability commission need track riders who will ride tandem for them. While we may have a guy who won't make the national squad for the pursuit, he may well be more than good enough to ride the tandem. Those places for the national team are so limited when you get to Elite - we are only talking about a few guys, but those other places are available.
SS: You mention some riders such as Roche, Scanlon, McCann and O’Loughlin - will they do the pursuit?
FC: Well, McCann is looking at the pursuit and we are also bringing Dermot Nally from Spain. I have been talking to him throughout the year - he's actually back racing again, he lives near the track and used to be a track rider. He is coming. We are bringing Ryan Connor, who is the under 23 time trial champion, with the pursuit in mind. We are looking at those sort of people at this stage.
Mark Scanlon is very keen at the moment, sounding very motivated. I have been talking to him in the past three or four weeks and it is great to hear that he is back with that sort of keenness again.
SS: Do you know what the situation was with Dermot Nally? He was going well a couple of years ago but then went off the scene.
FC: What happened is that he thought he had a contract signed with one of the Spanish Continental teams but it fell through. So he went through a bad period for a couple of months. We got him back on the bike around May and he ended up having some very good results in Spain towards the end of the year. He raced with Daniel Martin, who was out riding with VC La Pomme. Daniel phoned me and said that there was an Irish guy out there that was doing really well. I knew who it was and we talked to him, so he is back and is keen. We are actually shipping a bike out to him today, so we'll have him on the track bike for a few weeks before he comes over to Belgium.
SS: During the year, will you be travelling away with teams?
FC: Yes, basically the idea would be that… I won't be at every event, but the idea is to put a structure in place. We are pulling a pool of mechanics and masseurs together who will work with all disciplines. You won't have a guy who is just a road mechanic - he will have to do track and mountain biking. The same thing for the masseurs, we want them to cross over. There will be individual managers or, as I call them, coordinators looking after road, track and mountain bike, and then above that there will be me overseeing the whole lot. There may well be times when I will go to track events but there will also be the track coordinator there.
It is our intention to try to do the Moscow and Manchester World Cup track events, and the boys who are in America are hoping to do the Los Angeles one. That will be of no real expense to us due to the fact that they are based in America. That could help out there. It really all depends on what happens at this meeting in Belgium, to be honest with you.
SS: Is correct that the Irish Sports Council are funding your role?
FC: Yes, that is correct. They are funding the directors post, yes.
SS: Can that then lead to an increase in the general funding which is available?
FC: Well, we are in the middle of negotiating and that is one of the things we have to prepare, the High Performance Plan. That has to be into the Irish Sports Council before the end of the month. So there is a lot more paperwork involved as well in trying to put together a complete plan and structure for them. We are hoping that then that if we can bring them better results and a plan that looks like it is going to be worthy, that we can talk to them about an increase in funding as well.
SS: Obviously the track focus has worked out very well for British Cycling, due to the fact that there were many more medals up for grabs.
FC: There are a lot more of them all right, so you're increasing the possibilities there. And they have proven that it works well with road guys… guys can carry out a road programme and then just come away with a five or six day period leading up to the major events.
SS: There was talk of a planned track for Northern Ireland - do you know what stage that is that?
FC: There are still a number of plans through the Olympic funding in Northern Ireland. One of the things of course that Cycling Ireland are pushing for is an indoor track but there is nothing firm there at this stage. The next stage of funding is due to be announced within the next four to six weeks and hopefully at that point we will have some interested parties.
SS: Is correct to say that while things are more advanced in the North, that there is nothing much happening for now in the South?
FC: I know they were talking about it there be the possibility of a velodrome as part of the second phase of Abbotstown, but that is being talked about and is a long way down. I know the fact that the Olympics will be in London in 2012 means that there is a fund in the North of Ireland of eighty million pounds sterling for Olympic facilities. The first chunk of that has gone too 50 metre pool, and I know that other sports had to bid for a piece of that. I know that Cycling Ireland are actively pursuing the chance that we might get the funding for an indoor track in the North. I know that those things have to be built by 2010.
SS: Do you expect be doing work with the Sean Kelly team as well?
FC: Yes, the new Sean Kelly team is sort of the ultimate goal with an Irish-based cycling. I have been fairly heavily involved in it but with the new role, I will have to a certain extent stand back from that. But we are still using the Academy and next year we are launching a new Cycling Ireland Academy team based in Belgium which is, if you like, a step down from the Continental-registered team. It will give guys a stepping stone between racing in Ireland and racing on the Continental circuit. That would still be based in Belgium and I will still be working very closely with Kurt and Sean. In fact, I am actually meeting the two of them this evening to talk through the race programs…because we have made sure that we have riders available.
There is no point in me sending away an Irish team if they are already in a UCI-ranked event at the time. It is really all about, in these years of the Olympics, gathering points to get us qualified for the road and the track.
That is the same case for mountain biking. But there are some hard decisions to be made, there are a lot of choices and really, to me, my main aim would be the 2012 Olympics in London, as opposed to try to do everything for Beijing. I just don't think it is physically possible, and I think to waste time, money and effort at this stage trying to cram at all in to a year period would just be wrong.
SS: In mentioning the guys that you talked about earlier, are they looking at possibly doing the track events in the 2008 Games?
FC: Yes, we are hoping that we can convert, for instance, the pursuiters over much easier, as David O'Loughlin proved. David deliberately did his trial straight after the Worlds because we knew he would be in optimum condition, right down to the fact that he finished his time trial on the Thursday and he flew out on that same evening from Salzburg. So there was no time where he was hanging about.
We know what is possible, if we use him as the benchmark - he is one of our best time trialists and he was able to convert that time over. Let's hope that McCann and Ryan Connor and some of these other guys can produce similar times.