Solid Start to Para Track Worlds for Ireland

Solid Start to the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Apeldoorn for the Irish Team

Day one of the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands saw all four Irish bikes in action, competing in the 1km Time Trial. Solid riding against sprint specialists saw the Irish riders finish in the middle of the field, with the female tandem of Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal in 8^th place, Colin Lynch and Eoghan Clifford both finishing in 9^th place, and the male tandem of Peter Ryan and Damien Shaw finishing in 12^th place. The focus event for the Irish riders is the Individual Pursuit, and tomorrow will see Lynch and Clifford setting their sights on top performances. The Championships run from Thursday 26^th March until Sunday 29^th March.

The 1km Time Trial is a race against the clock over 4 laps of the 250m track. There were no qualification rounds in this event, and the fastest three bikes in each category were the medal winners. The pairing of Tipperary’s Ryan and Shaw was particularly impressive in the men’s tandem event, finishing in a personal best time of 1.06.323. Shaw previously piloted James Brown at the Paralympic Games to a bronze medal win in the Time Trial, and in 2013 first paired up with Ryan, a former GAA player, for the Road World Championships, before taking a break from Paracycling until this track season. The female tandem finished with a time of 1.13.579, with 0.1 seconds separating 6^th – 8^th place. Lynch also rode strongly to finish in a time of 1.19.83. Galway based Clifford burst onto the scene in 2014 to win both the Road and Time Trial World Titles at the World Championships in Greenville, USA, finished 9^th in a time of 1.15.448, and will be one to watch in the Individual Pursuit tomorrow.

Coach Neill Delahaye was happy with the first day of racing at the World Championships, and saw it as a good opener leading into the target individual pursuit events “the pursuit is usually first up, so it was a good opportunity to get that out today as a practise run. Tomorrow is the big focus this week for the two lads, and the Saturday for the tandems. Today everyone performed well, Colin was technically smooth, Katie is just back from injury, and Peter and Damien knock a fair chunk off the time they did in Newport in February. Eoghan got a PB in his event, the kilo was always going to be a challenging event, but if you can hit a PB in a non-target event, it shows you are in good shape.”

This weekend is very important for picking up points for the Paralympic Games in Rio. Delahaye said “There are not a whole load of Para events, so the world championships are of big importance, and you can see that people are picking up their game for Rio.”

Tomorrow will see Lynch competing in the Men’s C2 3km Individual Pursuit and Clifford in the Men’s C3 3km Individual Pursuit, both will compete in the qualifiers in the morning, with the top four times contesting medals later in the day. Competition begins in the Apeldoorn Velodrome on Thursday 26^th March and will continue until Sunday the 29^th March, with all competitions taking place during the day.  

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)