CYCLING:  Robin Seymour will tomorrow attempt to add yet another gold medal to the 12 consecutive titles he has won in the national cyclo-cross championships.

Competitors will line out at Kilruddery Estate, near Bray Head, to fight it out for the championship, which will be settled in under an hour on a fast, flowing course peppered with technical sections.

Seymour is the obvious favourite for the event, having dominated the cyclo-cross scene for many years and also taken 11 gold medals in mountainbike events. He was best in one downhill and 10 straight cross-country championships, his total haul of 23 national titles making him one of the most consistent ever competitors in Irish sport.

The Wicklowman missed most of this year's cross league as he was abroad securing qualification for the Olympic MTB event, but raced to a clear win at last Saturday's final round in Bangor.

All-Ireland league winner Roger Aiken and Banbridge CC team mate Don Travers are Seymour's most likely challengers.

Although there will be several riders hoping to finish as top dog in Kilruddery, Seymour's dominant form of late suggests the biggest danger to his chances would be a mechanical problem, puncture or crash.

The programme of racing will begin with underage racing and a mountainbike support event at noon. The championship itself will start at 1.30 p.m. and is open to cyclo-cross bikes only.

In other news, rising Irish professional Mark Scanlon is on an early training camp with his Ag2r team in the rain-lashed south of France.

He is due to make his racing debut in the Tour Down Under in Australia at the end of January, with a ride in the Tour de France and a good showing in the Olympic road race being two of his big goals for the 2004 season.

FIXTURES: Tomorrow - All-Ireland cyclo-cross championships, Kilruddery, Bray. Underage and MTB race at noon, main event at 1.30. For more information contact Geoff Seymour at 01-2863890.