By James Crook

109305288March 13 - Andy Harrison, the English Institute of Sport (EIS) operations manager, has been named by British Cycling as its new programmes director.

Harrison has worked at the EIS for a decade in various roles, including as athlete services manager and physiologist, as well as serving as the high performance advisor at England Netball and the Olympic team manager for British Swimming's women's water polo squad at London 2012.

He has also acted as a consultant for various professional football, Formula One and rugby teams.

After Britain won seven gold medals on the track and one gold on the road, Harrison joins British Cycling with the task of ensuring that performances remain at the same high level at Rio 2016 and beyond.

"Andy Harrison's experience as a performance support and management expert for several major sporting bodies gives him a solid grounding for our new programmes director role," said British Cycling chief executive Ian Drake.

127699154Andy Harrison will be based at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester when he begins his role in May

"This is about creating a sustainable structure from which Britain can continue on its journey to become a cycling nation at all levels.

"It's going to be a challenge to ensure we can sustain the remarkable success that we've achieved so far.

"I'm confident that the addition of Andy to the team alongside Sir David Brailsford as Performance Director and Shane Sutton as Head Coach will give us the best possible chance of continued success."

Harrison said he was looking forward to his new challenge, with his eyes firmly set on delivering at Rio 2016.

"Having worked alongside the GB cycling team during their last two successful Olympic cycles, I am looking forward to becoming more involved with them as they work towards Rio." he explained.

"I think my experience and learning's from the elite sports industry will help drive the momentum which the team has picked up and I'm happy to have this opportunity to work with the GB Cycling Team."

Harrison will begin his new role, based at British Cycling's headquarters at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester's Sportcity, in May this year.

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