Irish team announced for para-cycling track World Championships

Ireland has confirmed a strong competitive team for the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, which take place from the 26-29 March.

Entering four bikes across 10 events, Ireland’s six-person team will be a competitive one, comprising of current double road world champion Eoghan Clifford, former track world champion Colin Lynch, in addition to world silver medallists Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal.

The new tandem pairing of Peter Ryan and Damien Shaw will be one to watch as well; at the London 2012 Paralympic Games Shaw piloted James Brown to a bronze medal win in the men’s time trial.

All bikes will compete in the pursuit, along with the kilometre time trial. For the first time at a major championships Ireland will also field entries in the scratch race, with Clifford and Lynch competing in the same men’s C1-3 event.

The Irish Para-cycling team is a progressive squad on the cycling scene, with new competitors breaking through each year, and competition to make the team for the major events tough. Coach Neill Delahaye is looking forward to this week’s Championships.

He said: “The team selection this year was more competitive than ever, a lot of hard work was put in during training camps since December and we are in a strong position now to deliver our best performance. Everyone has the work done and we are looking forward to the competition.”

The Irish team is travelling from its pre-Championships base in Majorca to the Dutch track, where competition will begin on Thursday.

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