Colin Lynch, of the Irish Paralympic Cycling Team and the Para-T Team in the UK, will be tackling the UCI Paracycling Hour Record for the C2 class. The attempt will take place in Manchester (in conjunction with the World Masters Track Championships) on October 10th at 2:00pm GMT. You can watch the attempt live online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HGpelVJSbo.
The record currently sits at 41km 31m and has been held by Laurent Thirionet of France since 1999. It was Thirionet that beat Lynch by 1/10th of second to snatch the Individual Pursuit bronze medal at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, so there is extra incentive to take this record.
Lynch previously won the Paracycling World Championship Time Trial title in 2011 and the Paracycling Individual Pursuit title in 2012. He is currently preparing for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. He’s hoping this attempt will help shine the spotlight on Paracycling for the next World Championships in March (Italy) and for the Rio Paralympic Games.
The attempt has been in the planning stages now for over a year, with dedicated training taking place over the last two months. Lynch spent time at altitude working on his endurance during the summer and has recently spent several weeks fine-tuning his position and putting in extended periods of time riding the track in Palma.
When asked about his prospects for beating the record, Lynch was very positive. “I have spent an enormous amount of time preparing for this attempt, including doing a full hour non-stop on the track to get a benchmark of what I can do. Without a doubt it will be the hardest hour I’ve spent on a bike, but thanks to the help of my coach Neill Delahaye I am confident that I will show up in the start gate in excellent condition and ready to take a real run at this record.”
There is also a brief write-up by Colin about his preparations on his blog: http://637daystogo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/60-minutes-to-make-history.html