Commonwealth Games cycling role for Ryan

RYAN Connor will manage the Northern Ireland cycling team at next year’s Commonwealth Games.
Ryan Connor will manage the Northern Ireland cycling team at next year's Commonwealth Games.Ryan Connor will manage the Northern Ireland cycling team at next year's Commonwealth Games.
Ryan Connor will manage the Northern Ireland cycling team at next year's Commonwealth Games.

The former Ahoghill man will be in charge of the country’s cycling squad for the prestigious event, which will take place in Glasgow.

Connor enjoyed a glittering career in the saddle, which included winning the P&O Tour of the North on three occasions, while he also represented Northern Ireland in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

But when a long-running mystery heart complaint saw him bring the curtain down on his competitive career last year, it also pushed his involvement in the sport in a different direction.

“It wasn’t a difficult decision because it was frustrating to do all the training and not be competitive in races – it was a challenge to even finish them, never mind win them,” reflects Ryan.

“I took up a role as team manager with Cycling Ulster which really appealed to me because at that stage I was still competing in races and that was the best place to be showing team members the way, more so than in a car driving along behind them.

“It’s hard to beat cycling competitively but I enjoy the tactical side of the sport and also passing on some of my experience to the younger riders.”

Connor’s efforts caught the eye of Cycling Ulster and Cycling Ireland who chose him from the selection process, with his appointment now due to be ratified by the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games Council.

“I’m absolutely delighted - it’s something I’m very proud of,” said Ryan.

“To be in charge of a Northern Ireland team at an international sporting event like the Commonwealth Games is a big honour.

“Competing in the Commonwealths was one of the highlights of my career so it’s great to be going back to that stage as team manager.

“It’s going to be a tough task to claim a medal when you consider the strength of some of the countries within the Commonwealth, like Australia, Canada, South Africa and England - even the Isle of Man will have six top professionals in their team.

“IT becomes even tougher when the Commonwealths are in Europe because that is where many of the top professional riders are based and they can work around the top races, whereas if the Games were in somewhere like India, they would be taking place at a different time of the year, when the professional races are on.

“We’’ have to wait and see how many places we get for cycling but we usually take about eight or nine competitors,” added Ryan, who will enhance his managerial experience in the coming weeks, having been invited to take charge of a professional team in Azerbaijan for a two-week stint.