National team director Richie Beatty got some satisfaction from his meeting with the ICF Board last Saturday as it was agreed that a team will represent Ireland in the European under-23 road race championship at Lisbon on August 15th.

Beatty then named Mark Scanlon, David O'Loughlin, David McQuaid, Derek Finnegan, Paul Healion and Dermot Nally, who lives in Valencia, for the assignment.

Scanlon's participation is in doubt but Beatty named him in the hope he will have regained fitness in time. If he does not go there will not be a replacement named. Scanlon strained his right knee while racing in Luxembourg with the Dutch Rabobank team in May and that ruled him out of the championship race at Waterford. He returned to Holland on Tuesday after a scheduled break at home in Sligo. Scanlon hopes to be racing again next weekend.

The Mayo Grand Prix at Castlebar on Sunday (1.0) is the first event in the new style Classic League - the competition is reduced to just four races this year, the Gene Moriarty memorial and the Tour of Armagh are next month, followed by the Matt Corcoran race at Naas on September 5th. The Castlebar criterium is on tomorrow evening, so many of the top men will be going there for the two days.

Paddy Doran has arranged a coaching session at the Donegal three-day race in Letterkenny next weekend, assisting him will be Aidan Hammond and Ian Chivers.