Former Kilkenny intermediate camogie captain, 19-year-old, Mia Griffin has turned her attention elsewhere in the sporting stratosphere this year, becoming an elite track cyclist. She has been preparing for the European Cycling Championship which is held in Scotland.
Glenmore’s Mia Griffin is no stranger to competition with provincial and national medals with St. Joseph’s Athletic Club, from camogie county, provincial and national medals and an All- Ireland medal with a senior girl’s relay squad, all under her belt.
Mia isn’t the only member of the Griffin family with the sporting bug with two younger brothers, Killian and Oisin, on the Waterford FC team.
She has represented her county from U14 right up to intermediate level and won an All-Ireland Minor medal in 2016.
Mia was captaining the Intermediate Camogie Team in 2017 when she took a test with Cycling Ireland’s “Talent Transfer Identification” programme, which she passed with flying colours.
Cycling Ireland wasted no time in setting up a Training Programme specifically for multi-talented Mia which helped her transition from Camogie Captain to track cyclist. Mia fully committed to her new athletic career, putting college on hold and moving to Mallorca full time to facilitating her training and competing throughout Europe.
Balancing training and competing, in the past year Mia has competed in Ras na mBan 2017, European Track Championships and numerous other track competitions in Portugal, Spain, Belgium, England, Germany and France.
Mia and her team ‘VC Ériu’ recently competed in the National Women’s Championship road race in Sligo, where her and her teammates all placed in the top twenty.
Her competition in Glasgow from August 2nd to 7th is a big event for her and her Team Pursuit Squad as it is one of several big competitions which will determine whether or not her Team will be eligible to possibly compete in the next Olympics in Tokyo 2020. Mia and her cycling squad are determined to make this possibility a reality.
The race will be televised by RTÉ and Eurosport.
