Killarney Cycling Club’s Stefan Caulfield-Dreier is in Holland this week contesting the U23 Track Cycling European Championships.

He is the second member of Killarney Cycling Club to make the Irish team and follows in the wheels of John Blackwell who was on regular Irish Track Team duty between 2004-09 but plans being hatched by the local club could make this a more regular occurrence.

Stefan, who lives in Beaufort, started cycling with the club in 2013/14 in the U12 category and enjoyed mixing his cycling with other sports for a number of years. Along the way he had many successes culminating in an U16 national time-trial title in 2019 and this year he won two silver medals at the Irish Junior Track Cycling Championships.

“Stefan’s dedication to his sport is a beacon to all our young riders and shows that love of sport and hard work can pay off. On behalf of everyone in the club I congratulate Stefan, his parents Heiko and Louise who have closely supported him, and his club mentors,” said club chairman Mark Murphy.

The European Track Cycling Championship concludes in Appledoorn on Sunday – see next week’s Killarney Advertiser for a full breakdown on Stefan’s results across a series of different races and competitions.

The Ireland National Junior Coach, Martin O’Loughlin, speaking from the squad’s training camp in Spain, said that Stefan will compete in both the team pursuit and individual pursuit, and hopefully the Omnium which is four bunch races in a single day. He also paid tribute to Stefan’s work-ethic.

“He has made a huge commitment to track cycling this year, travelling twice a week from Kerry to Dublin for training, and it has paid off for him,” said O’Loughlin.

FUTURE OF CYCLING IN KILLARNEY

Following Stefan’s inclusion in the Irish team for this week’s European Championships, the local club will launch a new scheme to ensure that young cycling talent in Killarney will continue to reach the top of the sport.

“In the autumn we will launch a new initiative to promote the retention of young riders in the sport and to give a supported pathway of progression from U16 to Junior and onto to U23 level,” Mark said.

“We are going to spare nothing in this regard and I would like to thank all our sponsors and supporters whose good will and financing make this type of outcome possible.”

One of the club’s prime reasons for pushing on with a dedicated youth scheme is as a result of COVID-19 restrictions that prevented club members from competing in major events.

“It is especially significant given the difficulties with COVID-19 as our excellent crop of Juniors – which we had nurtured up through underage years - have missed out on two years of top-level competition and opportunity, such as The Junior Tour of Ireland. They would possibly have been one of the strongest Junior teams in the club’s history,” he added.