Martin McKay competed in the men’s 1,000 metres track sprint and match sprint at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games alongside club-mate Mick Horgan – both members of the Maryland Wheelers Club in Belfast.

Their first experience of the type of velodrome used in Rome came just twenty minutes before racing began, an experience entirely unlike the tarmac and concrete tracks at Santry, Belfast, Lisburn and Portadown on which they had previously competed.

The ‘most superb cycling track in the world’ with its smooth timber surface and steep banking demanded different tactics to those used in Ireland. The delay in the arrival of their track bicycles until the afternoon before racing and the weight of their frames also added to the challenge. McKay did not advance beyond the heats or repechage in his events.