Irish duo Lydia Gurley and Lydia Boylan performed strongly this weekend in the Manchester Track World Cup, netting a fine fourth in the women’s Madison on Saturday. They were sitting sixth heading into the final sprint but crossed the line in third, jumping to their final finishing position of fourth. Gold went to Great Britain ahead of Belgium and Italy.

“It was a really tough race, quick the whole time,” said Gurley. “It’s been a hard four weeks of racing, and I think we have improved a lot. It bodes well for the future.”

The duo won silver in the event at the European track championships in October, then placed 10th in the Track World Cup in Poland earlier this month. “Each race is a learning experience for us,” said Boylan. “We’re learning all the time. We are not yet consistently at the head of affairs, but we’re hungry for it, and we will keep on plucking away.”

In other events, Felix English and Marc Potts finished eighth in the Madison. The Irish women’s transfer talent team were 12th in the team pursuit, while Shannon McCurley was 17th in the Keirin and Felix English was 18th in the Omnium.