|
|
|
Last Updated: May 12th, 2008 - 09:18:21 |
Paralympic Squad Get Medal in World Cup
By Denis Toomey, Irish Paralympic Cycling Manager
May 11, 2008,
|
Email this article
|
Bronze Medal for Walsh and Hickey as Irish Records tumble at Paralympic World Cup
The Irish got the first day of the Paralympic World Cup at Manchester Velodrome off to a great start on Thursday last with Locomotor Disorder Cyclist Cathal Miller just missing out on a Bronze Medal in an exciting ride off against the British rider in the 4km Pursuit. Earlier in the morning Miller broke his old Irish Record when qualifying for the ride off when he set a time of 5:02.215.
Cerebral Palsy rider Enda Smyth set two new Irish Records on Thursday, the first one in the morning session when he clocked 3:58.593, his first time to break four minutes which was good enough to give him 5th in a combined LC3/4 & CP 3/4 3km Pursuit race. In the afternoon session he knocked over a second of his Irish 1km record with a 1:15.3 ride in the kilo competition.
Female tandem pairing of Catherine Walsh and Joanna Hickey were equally on form on Thursday when they set a new Irish Record of 1:18.5 and finished in 4th place in the 1km Time Trial. On Friday morning they knocked a whopping 4 seconds of their 3km Pursuit Irish Record recording a time of 3:56 .146 good enough to place them in third in the qualifications and a ride off for the Bronze Medal against the Chinese in the afternoon finals. The Chinese set a blistering pace at the start with the aim of overtaking the girls, but Catherine and Joanna stuck to their pacing plan and lap by lap pulled back the time and were a tandem length in front going in to the last lap which the held on to the finish line to secure Ireland’s First World Cup Medal. Their time of 3:56.248 was just outside their Irish Record set in the morning session. The British tandem took gold breaking their old World Record with the New Zealand tandem taking silver.
 |
| Catherine Walsh & Joanna Hickey following presentation of their Bronze medal at the Paralympic World Cup in Manchester on Friday. |
Male tandem pairing of Michael Delaney and David Peelo had an unlucky start to the competition when their 1km race was stopped after three laps due to a mechanical problem with their opposing German Tandem which the Commissar deemed too dangerous for racing to continue. The lads had expended too much energy to put in a PB when the race was restarted just 10 minutes later but they still managed to put in a time of 1:10.855 to give them 6th place. On Friday they finished 7th in the Match Sprint competition in the morning in a time of 11:637 and in the afternoon took part in a specially set up 3km Pursuit against the British Tandem seeking to secure a qualification time for Beijing. Their time of 3:34 for the 3km was on pace to break their Irish 4km record which augers well for their next 4km race on Sunday night.
Ireland’s second male tandem pairing of Andrew Fitzgerald and John Lynch finished in 9th place Thursday’s 1km Time Trial in a PB time of 1:13.214. In Friday’s match sprint competition they provided the most entertaining race of the day when out-foxing the Polish tandem to secure 10th place overall.
The tandems are back on the Velodrome in Manchester to take part in an International Track Omnium race and the whole squad head from their to Newport to take part in the Paralympic Grand Prix of Wales on Monday night. We look forward to some more record breaking performances from the squad.
|
|
|
|
