Rafferty delighted to earn Commonwealth Games NI selection

DARREN Rafferty’s summer just got a lot busier following his selection onto the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games team.

The Hagens Berman Axeon rider will represent Ireland at this week’s European Championships in Portugal before rejoining his team in Italy for a five day stage race in the mountains after which he will return to his team’s base in Girona for a couple of weeks and then he will join the Northern Ireland team in Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games for 10 days. After a short break at home he then has the small matter of the 10-day Tour de l’Avenir in France!

“I have a busy couple of months ahead, I’m going to be flat out,” beamed the 19-year-old who will race in the time trial and the road race in Birmingham.

He continued: “It’s pretty cool to be selected for but it’s going to be a pretty big difference in level but it’s something I’m definitely looking forward to.”

Having excelled throughout his junior career and continued that into the under-23 ranks, the Edendork lad is no stranger to success. Just this season he won the Strade Bianche di Romagna in Italy and finished 39th in the ‘Baby Giro’, the Giro Ciclistico d’Italia, which was won by his team-mate, Leo Hayter, before going on to win the under-23 Irish time-trial title last week as well as finishing second in the under-23 road race and fifth overall in the elite’s.

But he’s not getting carried away by those achievements, preferring to use his Commonwealth Games debut as an experience builder for the future.

“I think this year will be about experience and building on the chance to race against world tour riders in the time trial and it will be the same with the road race because Australia and England have strong teams in, as do other nations almost all with all pros so I’ll see what I can do,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Darren’s younger sister, Aliyah, enjoyed a successful outing at the Newry three-day race over the weekend.

The Island Wheelers star finished second in the junior rider standings on the event, fourth in the overall standings, ninth in the points classification, and she was second in the Queen of the Hills battle to cap a hugely successful performance over the weekendl.