June 3rd marks World Bicycle Day, a global celebration of the bicycle and its impact on health, inclusion, sustainability and opportunity.
Recognised by the United Nations, World Bicycle Day highlights the bicycle as a simple, affordable, reliable and sustainable means of transport. It also recognises the role cycling can play in supporting physical and mental health, improving air quality, reducing congestion and creating more accessible communities.
For Paralympics Ireland, World Bicycle Day is also an opportunity to celebrate Ireland’s outstanding Para cycling athletes, whose achievements on the road and track have helped create some of the most memorable moments in Irish Paralympic sport.
Irish Para cycling has delivered medal winning performances at the very highest level, with Katie-George Dunlevy among the country’s most decorated Paralympians. Across four Paralympic Games, Katie-George Dunlevy has become one of the defining figures of Irish Para cycling, winning eight Paralympic medals, including four golds, with pilots Eve McCrystal and Linda Kelly.
Para cycling made up a major part of Team Ireland at the most recent Paralympic Games in Paris, with Katie-George Dunlevy, Linda Kelly, Eve McCrystal, Josephine Healion, Richael Timothy, Ronan Grimes, Martin Gordon, Eoin Mullen, Damien Vereker and Mitchell McLaughlin all representing Ireland in Paris. The team delivered some of Ireland’s standout moments of the Games, bringing home three medals through Dunlevy, who won gold with Kelly in the Women’s B Individual Time Trial, silver with Kelly in the Women’s B Road Race and silver with McCrystal in the Women’s B Individual Pursuit.
That success followed an already historic run for Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal, who won three gold medals and two silver medals across the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Together, they helped raise the profile of Para cycling in Ireland and inspired a new generation of athletes to see what is possible on the bike.
Ireland’s Para cycling programme continues to show strength and ambition, with athletes now working towards the 2026 UCI Para cycling Road World Championships, which will take place in Huntsville, Alabama from 4–7 September. The event will bring the world’s leading Para cyclists together once again, giving Ireland’s riders another opportunity to compete on the international stage.
World Bicycle Day is a reminder that the bicycle can mean many things. It can be transport, exercise, freedom, independence, competition and community. In Para cycling, it is also a platform for excellence, teamwork and world class performance.
Galway native Ronan Grimes’ route into Para cycling is a reminder that the bike can open unexpected doors. Having first found his way to the sport through the Irish Government’s Cycle to Work scheme, Grimes went on to establish himself among the world’s leading Para cyclists, representing Ireland on the biggest international stages.
As the world celebrates the bicycle today, Paralympics Ireland proudly celebrates the athletes who have worn the green jersey with distinction and continue to push Irish Para cycling forward.
