FROM someone who was born and grew up in Glenmore, Mia Griffin initially followed a well-worn sporting path.
That was until an ad seen by her mother’s colleague prompted a diversion which will lead her to Paris this summer.
Griffin, 25, recalled: “Being a Kilkenny native, that obviously means that from a young age hurling and camogie is the biggest sport.
“It’s like a religion in Kilkenny so I played camogie since I was five years old and that was my sport.
“I played for my county, minor, I was playing intermediate camogie for the county when I stopped.
“I was 18 when I started cycling so I was playing camogie at the same time.
“But then cycling took over and I was really, really passionate about it so that was when I had to say goodbye to camogie and fully commit to cycling.”
The switch had originated when her mother — who was working in Waterford IT, now known as SETU — was alerted to a Cycling Ireland ad by a workmate.
The federation was looking to convince those who had shown potential in another sport to try out for theirs.
Griffin said: “My mam said, ‘Oh maybe this is something you’d be interested in doing’ and I was like, ‘Why not?’ I had nothing to lose.
“So I did some testing, a three-minute test on a watt bike and a six-second peak power test. They wanted to see how strong you were and whether you could sustain it.
“My numbers were good, camogie would have helped, as well as cross-training and running.”
She was followed by Alice Sharpe, Kelly Murphy — both of them from triathlon backgrounds — Lara Gillespie and Erin Creighton.
Between them, they qualified Ireland in the team pursuit with a race to spare. Griffin also secured a place for Ireland in the women’s road race but will compete on the track instead.
Her choice was made for a number of reasons as she explained: “I think it’s the fact I’ve put so many years into this track set-up and I think that we work really well as a team together and I think we know each other really, really well so, for me, it’s a no-brainer to commit to track racing for the Olympics.
“There are so many variables on the road, on the track, there are less people in general, and if you put everything together and prepare very well for track you kind of get out what you put in whereas on the road it’s slightly different, there are so many things that can happen.
“Track is a good place to invest in general whether it’s as a rider or as a federation for example because there is 100 people in a road race whereas there’s maybe 20 in a track race.
“So your chances of winning a medal are going to be higher.”
DEFYING THE ODDS
Not that the investment in the sport has seen the construction of a track in Ireland.
The cost of a proposed Velodrome and National Badminton Centre on the Sport Ireland Campus in Abbotstown has soared from €60million to €87m.
And Griffin says Ireland’s qualification is unique given the circumstances.
She said: “There is no other team that has qualified without a track.
“That is quite significant but we were able to create a high- performance environment that was small but functions quite well.
“Not having a track has drawbacks but it also has some pros as well, the fact that we trained in Majorca is quite good for the roads.
“But I do think for pathways and developing future riders we need a track.”