Paracycling World Road Championships

Irish Girls Tandem Pair finish 8th in a day of mixed fortune at the Paracycling Road World Championships in Canada.

The Irish female tandem pairing of Catherine Walsh and pilot Fran Meehan finished 8th place in today's 80km Road Race in UCI Paracycling Road World Championships in Baie-Comeau, Canada. Positioned well at the end of the first lap, misfortune struck the Irish pair when a broken chain cost the girls valuable time and position. Following repairs, the pair climbed their way back up to the lead group however having expended so much energy in their chase the girls were unable to respond to everything and missed the race winning break that saw the Canada take gold and bronze with the New Zealand claiming silver.

In the male tandem race, Irish misfortune continued when Michael Delaney and Con Collis also suffered chain problems leaving them chasing the field for the duration of the men's tandem race.

Irelands other cyclists in action today, Dublin's Cathal Miller and Enda Smyth were caught up in a pile-up in the first lap. While neither suffered injury both athletes were to get catch the again the leaders were too far ahead to allow the lads get back into contention

Speaking at the end of the competition in Canada, Ireland Paracycling Manager Denis Toomey commented, "All in all it was a brilliant World Championship. Irelands first Paracycling World Championship Gold Medal, three 5th place positions and one 8th place finish will help to accumulate much sought after Ranking Points towards qualification for London 2012. It shows that the squad is still progressing greatly in the right direction and will hopefully lead to a record number of places for Ireland at the Paralympic Games in 2012."


For further information contact:
John Fulham, PCI Communications Officer, 087-2709182
communications@pcireland.ie