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Last Updated: 2 Apr 2018 - 8:45:17 PM |
One More Bike Added to Irish Team for Paralympic Games
By Cycling Ireland Media
26 Aug 2016,
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With the suspension of the Russian Team by the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) upheld by CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport), there has been good news for the Irish Paracycling Team, with the announcement of the addition of a second men’s tandem to the team. Tipperary’s Peter Ryan will be piloted by Marcin Mizgajski (Wexford) in the Men’s B Tandem Time Trial and Men’s B Tandem Road Race which take place in Fort Copacabana from the 14th – 17th September.
Upperchurch Drombane Cycling Club member Ryan was ecstatic upon receiving news of his selection; “I was jumping around the place when I took the call. This is another twist in the tale. It took me a while to get my head around that I’m going; I was waiting for someone to tell me it wasn’t real. I just spent the last six weeks nearly grieving that I wasn’t there, but it feels real now that I picked up my stuff from the office.”
Ryan and Mizgajski will be joining the rest of the Irish Team at the Athlete’s Village in Rio when they arrive in just over a week; “We are heading on the 5th [of September], and need every day and hour now on the Watt Bike to get ready. I’m heading to Marcin’s house next week for a mini camp; I’ll stay with him for a few days. We’re just going to enjoy it. In a way I think we will appreciate it a bit more than anyone else there. It really rings through what it meant. We’re here and we won’t waste the opportunity.”
This brings to seven the number of bikes that will be competing at the Paralympic Games in Rio. Ryan and Mizgajski will join the rest of the Irish Team at the Athlete’s Village. The Paracycling Team have been finalising their training at the holding camp in Uberlandia of the Games which begin on the 7th September. At the Games there will be 7 Irish bikes now competing; Dunlevy and McCrystal (W B Tandem), Damien Vereker and Sean Hahessy (M B Tandem), Peter Ryan and Marcin Mizgajski (M B Tandem), Eoghan Clifford (MC3), Colin Lynch (MC2), Declan Slevin (MH3) and Ciara Staunton (WH2).
Cycling Ireland Website: www.cyclingireland.ie
Paralympics Website: www.paralympics.ie
TEAM
Eoghan Clifford C3
Katie-George Dunlevy & Eve McCrystal WB
Colin Lynch C2
Declan Slevin H3
Ciara Staunton H2
Damien Vereker & Sean Hahessy MB
Peter Ryan & Marcin Mizgajski MB
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About Classification in Paralympic Sport:
Classification is a unique and integral part of Paralympic sport. It provides the structure to separate athletes with similar levels of impairments into groups, or classes as they are commonly known, so they can compete in fair and equal competitions against one another, and ensure that winning is determined by skill, fitness, power, endurance, tactical ability and mental focus. This same principle exists in non-Paralympic sports where athletes are classified according to age, gender or weight divisions to allow for as fair competition as possible.
In para-cycling there are fourteen classifications based on functional disability type. B refers to the tandems, where the stoker is blind or visually impaired, and the pilot is sighted. H represents the handcycling events, and C refers to cyclists on regular, but adapted, solo bikes, who may have cerebral palsy, limb impairments and amputations. In these events the categories have numbers denoting the level of impairment, the lower numbers the more severe the impairments and the higher less so.
For more information on Para-cycling visit:
http://www.uci.ch/para-cycling/about/
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