*Phillip O’Connor.
TUBBER’S Philip O’Connor claimed three U16 national track titles in Dublin last Saturday.
At the Sundrive Velodrome in the capital, Philip was first home in the Scratch Race, 500m Time Trial and the Sprint Race.
Not alone did he secure gold but he also set a new national time record for U16 in two of the races (500m and the sprint), he has been cycling competitively for three years.
A member of the Dungarvan Cycling Club, Philip is coached by Mark Shannon from Burren Cycling Club who himself rode in the Rás this year.
Although his club is in Waterford, the bulk of Philip’s training is done on his own, on Thursday evenings he forms part of the Clare League which runs from Barefield over the summer months.
He was selected to represent Ireland in Maribor in the European Youth Olympics recently where he competed in the road race and time trail. An unfortunate pile-up crash hindered his success here where he lost a of time but still managed to finish out the road race. L
A student at Gort Community School, he used to play a lot of hurling but has had to concentrate solely on hurling.
Members of the O’Connor family have expressed their gratitude to Landscape and Leisure owned by Gary Kiely who has been very generous in providing gear in support of Philip.
