Irish female riders to resubmit applications for funding

Cycling: The recent announcement of the Irish Institute for Sport's International Carding Scheme allocations for 2008 led to protests within Irish cycling, given just six per cent of the monies awarded were going to female riders.

Out of a total of €215,000, only €12,000 was allocated for this purpose. This consisted of a payment of €6,000 each to paralympic rider Catherine Walsh and her tandem pilot Joanna Hickey, while those in the mainstream branch of the sport received nothing.

Ireland's top female riders Siobhan Dervan, Louise Moriarty and Jenny Fay had applied for funding, and each confirmed to The Irish Times this week that, having spoken to the Irish Sports Council, they would resubmit their applications.

Dervan has won the national road race championships for the past three years, has raced at a high level abroad and has shown consistent improvement since switching from triathlon. In her application she pointed out an inequality in the criteria for carding between men and women.

Currently, having a contract with a UCI ProTour level team is listed as being one threshold to qualify for international-level funding. However the ProTour label only exists in men's cycling; Dervan explained that as she was due to race with the Italian pro team Fenixs in 2008, she considered this to be of an equal level and applied accordingly.

As for Moriarty and Fay, they also applied but it emerged this week due to an administrative error, neither submission was assessed. Both will now reapply and, like Dervan, hope that something can be done to recognise Ireland's top female cyclists.

WEEKEND FIXTURES

Saturday/Sunday : Women's training camp, Avon Ri, Blessington. Call Alex on 085-7399603 for details.

Sunday : Lacey Cup Tralee, 12.15 pm; MTB XCO Bangor; Connacht training race, Galway, 10.0 am.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times