Kilcullen hosting National Cycling Championships

Up to 5,000 spectators are expected to visit Kilcullen on the last weekend in June for the 2016 Irish National Cycling Championships road races, writes Brian Byrne.

There will be some 500 competitors in the prestigious event which is being hosted in Kilcullen this year. Among them will be Team Sky professional Nicolas Roche, former Irish National Road Race Champion, and up and coming Angus Fyffe from Omagh, grandson of the late Tommy and Carmel Byrne of Kilcullen.

On Thursday 23 June the Time Trial will take place on the Athy Road, beginning at 6pm. On the Saturday there will be three simultaneous races starting and finishing on the Athy Road, including the Masters event, on a course that takes in Kilcullen, Kilrush, Narraghmore, Blackrath and Old Kilcullen.

The racing on Sunday will include Brewel Hill on all six laps and will feature the Elite Women and Elite Men categories. Among those riding will be Nicolas Roche, Dan Martin and Philip Duignan.

Angus Fyffe is expected to be competing in the Espiros category, a race within a race for the under-23 age group.

The Championships have a pedigree going back to 1877, when the race had a 50m/80km distance.