Irish Squad Announced for UCI Paracycling Track World Championships

10 Irish Paracylcists to Travel to Track World Championships in Montichiari, Italy

Cycling Ireland has named a 10 strong squad of Paracyclists that will travel to Montichiari, Italy for the UCI Paracycling World Championships next month.

The squad announcement comes following the Irish Paracycling training camp in Majorca. The UCI Paracycling Track World Championships take place from the 11th - 13th March.

In the Female Tandem category Catherine Walsh and her pilot Francine Meehan will compete in the 1km Time Trial and 4km Pursuit competitions. Catherine will attempt to emulate her silver medal performance at the 2009 Track World Championships and will be targeting a podium finish at the Championships.

Ireland will have two tandems competing in the Male Tandem category, Michael Delaney and pilot Con Collis and Andrew Fitzgerald and pilot Damien Shaw. . Both tandems will compete in the 200m Sprint, 1Km Time Trial and 4km Pursuit Competitions. Damien Shaw competes in his first World Championships and his place in the team was secured through the Cycling Ireland Talent Identification Programme.

In the single bike events, Cathal Miller has been selected in the C5 category and will be aiming to get on the podium after narrowly missing out at the 2009 Track World Championships when he finished 4th in the 4km Pursuit. Miller will compete in 1km Time Trial, 4km Pursuit and Team Sprint competitions in Italy.

Colin Lynch will compete in the C2 category and new squad member Chris Burns from Banbridge CC has been selected to compete in the C3 category* . They will both compete in the 1km Time Trial, 4km Pursuit and Team Sprint Competitions.

Trix Schwedler has been selected to compete in the Female C3 Category* and will compete in the 500m Time Trial and 3km Pursuit competition at the Championships

Welcoming the announcement Irish Paracycling Manager, Denis Toomey said "All those selected were in fine form at the recent camp in Majorca and if they can hold their current good form through to Italy, there will be high hopes for a number of medal winning performances for the squad at the World Championships. In addition success at the World Championships will bring the added benefit of securing valuable Ranking Points towards Irish qualification slots for the 2012 London Paralympic Games."

The squad travel to Italy on March 1st for their final training camp before competition starts on March 11th.