Cycling Ireland scoop sponsorship deal

Accounting and business advisory firm Grant Thornton is to sponsor Cycling Ireland’s teams to the end of the 2004 season.

Team Ireland will be participating in the Olympic Games and the World and European Championships in both road racing and mountain biking.

The first big test for Ireland’s Olympic team will start on August 14 in Athens with the Olympic Road Race, where Ciaran Power and Mark Scanlon will compete. Scanlon has just completed his first Tour de France.

Ireland’s mountain bikers go into action in the women’s event where Jenny McCauley competes in her first Olympics and in the men’s cross country race where Sydney Olympic veteran Robin Seymour is hoping for a top 20 finish.

The other main events where Ireland hope to do well are the under 23 European Championships in Estonia in August and the World Road Championships scheduled for Italy in September.