Paralympic Cyclists

Raam

http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_3320.shtml

The Irish Paralympic Cycling Squad will join the rest of the Irish Team at Dublin Airport on Sunday next 24th August to fly off to Beijing for the Paralympic Games.

The Cycling Squad made up of Male & Female Tandem pairing of Catherine Walsh and Pilot Joanna Hickey and Michael Delaney and Pilot David Peelo compete in the Blind & Visually Impaired category. Cathal Miller competes on a single bike in the LC1 9arm Amputee) category and Enda Smyth competes in the single bike Cerebral Palsy CP4 Category.

Accompanying the team will be Cycling Manager Denis Toomey, Paralympic Coach Brian Nugent and Team Mechanic Gerry Beggs.

Speaking in advance of their departure Denis Toomey said “ All the hard work has now been done and the squad are all in high spirits. Personal Best performances will at a minimum result in Irish Records and we are confidant of achieving this. Anything beyond will be a bonus but in cycling you never know” We have prepared well thanks to the support of The Irish Sports Council, Paralympic Council of Ireland, Cycling Ireland, NCTC. An Post and many more and are looking forward to an exciting and successful games.

We have a week in our team holding camp in Beijing before moving into the Paralympic Village on September 1st. During our holding camp we have secured access to the Chinese Paralympic Training Velodrome (Yes in China the Paralympic cyclists have their own Velodrome to train in). Once we are in the village we will be able to train in the Olympic Velodrome where the competition takes place. The Opening Ceremony takes place on September 6th and the track competition start on September 7th.

RTE will provide coverage every second night from the 6th September and BBC will also provide coverage.

Attached photograph shown the Irish Paralympic Cycling Team along with Irish Chef De Mission taken at the final training camp in Limerick last weekend.

I've met Cathal Millar (second from left) out on the bike a few times, and he's a fierce nice fella. I hope they do well.

smithslist

good luck to them all!!!!!

Planet X

Dave Peelo on the left, our top cyclist in Sorrento. Good luck Dave.

unionman

Very best of luck to the irish team and safe journey. We'll be watching!

NewDubliner

Raam wrote: »

I've met Cathal Millar (second from left) out on the bike a few times, and he's a fierce nice fella. I hope they do well.

Also fiercely strong and very fit, the word 'disabled' does not come to mind when you meet him.

leftism

I've had the pleasure of meeting Cathal a few times this season and he is an absolute legend! Fiercely determined, and massively strong both physically and mentally... I hope he gets a medal out there. He deserves it with the amount of training he puts in! Over the years I've been lucky enough to talk to several olympic champions, and Cathal stands out as probably the most inspirational guy i've ever met. Totally focussed, always positive and confident, and a genuinely nice, down to earth guy. He seems to set himself goals all the time for training and testing and theres no excuses with him. He just gets the job done with zero complaining. Many of our top irish athletes could learn a thing or two from how he goes about his training!


Best of luck to him!!!!