Racing kicks off with the 1km Time Trial events for the Irish Paracycling Team today (Thursday) at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands.
First on the track for Ireland will be Colin Lynch in the Men’s C2 1km TT, followed by Eoghan Clifford in the Men’s C3 1km race. In the afternoon the two tandems will be in action, with Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal competing in the Women’s B 1km TT and the new pairing of Peter Ryan and Damien Shaw competing in the Men’s B 1km TT.
This year Ireland’s six person team will be a competitive one, competing in four bikes across ten events. The Championships run from Thursday 26th March until Sunday 29th March.
The 1km Time Trial is a race against the clock over 4 laps of the 250m track. There are no qualification rounds in this event, and the fastest three bikes in a category win the medals.
On Friday Lynch and Clifford will then compete in the Individual Pursuit, a focus event for all riders. For this there will be qualification rounds, with the fastest two contesting the gold medal in the finals, and the next fastest two contesting bronze.
Saturday will see the tandems compete in the Individual Pursuit, and on Sunday Lynch and Clifford will round up the World Championships competing in the Men’s C1-2-3 Scratch Race.
The Irish Para-cycling team is a progressive squad on the cycling scene, with new competitors breaking through each year, and competition to make the team for the major events tough.
Coach Neill Delahaye is looking forward to next week’s Championships saying “The team selection this year was more competitive than ever, a lot of hard work was put in during training camps since December and we are in a strong position now to deliver our best performance. Everyone has the work done and we are looking forward to the competition.”
Competition begins in the Apeldoorn Velodrome on Thursday 26th March and will continue until Sunday the 29th March, with all competitions taking place during the day.
Irish Team for 2014 UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships
Eoghan Clifford, MC3 Individual Pursuit, MC3 Kilo TT, MC1-3 Scratch Race, from Galway Bay CC, Co. Galway
Colin Lynch, MC2 Individual Pursuit, MC2 Kilo TT, MC1-3 Scratch Race, from Cheshire in England
Katie-George Dunlevy & Eve McCrystal, WB Individual Pursuit, WB Kilo TT, Dunlevy from Maidenhead in England, McCrystal from Dundalk, Co. Louth
Peter Ryan & Damien Shaw, MB Individual Pursuit, MB Kilo TT, Ryan from Drombane, Co. Tipperary, Shaw from Mullingar, Co. Westmeath
Manager/Coach Neill Delahaye
Mechanic Gerry Beggs
Physio Johnny Loughrey
Team Manager Tommy McGowan
PROVISIONAL Competition Schedule – Irish team at UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships
(All times quoted are Irish time; approximate and schedule may be subject to change)
Day 1 – Thursday 26th March 2015 Results
10.15am Colin Lynch M C2 1km Time Trial
10.45am Eoghan Clifford M C3 1km Time Trial
4.40pm Dunlevy & McCrystal W B 1 km Time Trial
5.20pm Ryan & Shaw M B 1km Time Trial
Day 2 – Friday 27th March 2015
11.25am Colin Lynch M C2 3km Individual Pursuit Qualifiers
12.25pm Eoghan Clifford M C3 3km Individual Pursuit Qualifiers
4pm Colin Lynch M C2 3km Individual Pursuit Final
4.20pm Eoghan Clifford 1. M C3 3km Individual Pursuit Final
Day 3 – Saturday 28th March 2015
8am Dunlevy & McCrystal W B 3km Individual Pursuit Qualifiers
9am Ryan & Shaw M B 4km Individual Pursuit Qualifiers
6.25pm Dunlevy & McCrystal W B 3km Individual Pursuit Finals
7.00pm Ryan & Shaw M B 4km Individual Pursuit Finals
Day 4 – Sunday 29th March 2015
7.30am Colin Lynch
Eoghan Clifford M C1-2-3 Scratch Race Qualification
3pm Colin Lynch
Eoghan Clifford M C1-2-3 Scratch Race Finals
About Classification in Paralympic Sport: Classification is a unique and integral part of Paralympic sport. It provides the structure to separate athletes with similar levels of impairments into groups, or classes as they are commonly known, so they can compete in fair and equal competitions against one another, and ensure that winning is determined by skill, fitness, power, endurance, tactical ability and mental focus. This same principle exists in non-Paralympic sports where athletes are classified according to age, gender or weight divisions to allow for as fair competition as possible.
In para-cycling there are fourteen classifications based on functional disability type. B refers to the tandems, where the stoker is blind or visually impaired, and the pilot is sighted. H represents the handcycling events, and C refers to cyclists on regular, but adapted, solo bikes, who may have cerebral palsy, limb impairments and amputations. In these events the categories have numbers denoting the level of impairment, the lower numbers the more severe the impairments and the higher less so.
