Rio Road Races 9th for Slevin 14th for Staunton

Westmeath’s Declan Slevin has finished 9th in the Men’s H3 Road Race at the Paralympic Games in Rio.  The first time Paralympian rode a gutsy race in a fast paced race to claim a top ten finish on what was a hot and humid race. Earlier in the day Wicklow woman Ciara Staunton took 14th place in a mixed class race, where the H2 handcyclist was outpowered by stronger riders from the H3 and H4 classes. Slevin and Staunton were the only riders in action following the Time Trial day which proved a magical medal winning one for the Irish Paracyclists, when Eoghan Clifford and the women’s tandem of Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal won gold and Colin Lynch took silver.

The Men’s H3 60km Road Race was four laps of a flat and fast 15km course along the sea front. From the off the pace was blistering with Italy’s Vittorio Podesta setting the pace for the majority of the race. As the laps passed the number of riders in the lined out lead group gradually decreased, with Declan trailing off in the second lap. At the halfway mark Slevin was lying in 12th place, trailing the USA rider William Lachenauer by a minute. On the third lap Slevin upped the ante, reeling back the deficit to Lachenauer and closing in on the next group. The final lap saw several riders withdraw from the race, but the power and determination of Slevin pushed him through to 9th position.  The race was won by Paulo Cecchetto (ITA) ahead of Maximilian Weber (GER).  Charles Moreau (CAN) took bronze.

After the race an emotional and satisfied Slevin said “It was tough out there - they made a big drive for it then and I was struggling and struggling, but I held on and kept going and I started catching one or two of them. I can’t believe I finished ninth, it’s more than I could have ever asked for – I’m over the moon!”

“If you told me 12 years ago that I would have ninth place in the Paralympic Games I would not have believed you for one second. I say to anyone lying in a bed in Dْn Laoghaire hospital with a spinal injury that this is it – this is where you want to be [at a Paralympic Games]. I’ll never give up this sport.”

In the WH2-4 Road Race Kilcullen Cycling Club member Staunton found the pace and standard tricky. Being a H2 handcyclist in a mixed category event was always going to be difficult, and Staunton was pulled with one lap to go in the 45km race, putting her finish position as 14th. Christiane Reppe (GER) took gold, Doyeon Lee (KOR) took silver and bronze went to Francesca Porcellato (ITA).

After the race a tired Staunton said “Today was very tough,” she said afterwards. “It was way worse than yesterday, the heat was just so much harder to bear. It’s very difficult to compete in a mixed class as well – I’m competing against people of a higher classification who have more function so that’s difficult.

“Words don’t describe though how it feels to represent Ireland - it’s been a long time goal to get here, the only person who would have stopped me from getting here was myself and now I’m looking ahead on to Tokyo.”

Eoghan Clifford and Colin Lynch are back in action tomorrow in the Men’s C1-2-3 71.1km Road Race, where Clifford will be aiming to had to his medal haul.