Colin Lynch

Day 2 of the 2012 Paracycling Track World Championships in Carson L.A. saw the Irish Paracycling squad secure yet another Rainbow Jersey for Ireland when Colin Lynch followed up on the success of the 3km Female Tandem Pursuit World Champions Catherine Walsh and her Pilot Francine Meehan yesterday by finishing in first place in this morning’s qualifications and then riding a terrific Final race to set a new Irish Record of 3:51.640 when beating the Chinese World Record Holder by six seconds in a great ride off for the Gold medal.

What makes the victory even more sensational was the fact that after the qualification rounds the Irish Management were advised that a Classification Protest was lodged against Colin so he had to go through a full classification review which thankfully confirmed him as a C2 athlete.

Other great results from today’s competition included a fifth place finish by Enda Smyth in the C3 3km Individual Pursuit where he set a new Irish Record of 3:52.622. Cathal Miller also finished in fifth place in the C5 Individual Pursuit just outside a ride off for a bronze medal in a time of 4:50.611 but he really deserved better as both the 3rd and 4th place finishers were given an unfair advantage when passed by their competitors they got a tow along to the finish.

In this afternoon’s session Irish tandem pairings competed in the 1km Individual Time Trial and in spite of giving everything in yesterday’s Pursuit competition went on to give credible performances all round. Katie-George Dunlevy and Pilot Sandra Fitzgerald set a PB time of 1:16.4147 to give them a 12th place finish. 3km Pursuit World Champions Catherine Walsh and Fran Meehan finished 7th place in a time of 1:13.826.

Male tandem pairings of James Brown and Damien Shaw finished in 14th place in a time of 1:07.950 and were followed closely by Andy Fitzgerald and Com Collis in 17th place in a time of 1:08.233.

Tomorrow all three single bikes are back in action in the 1km Individual Pursuit Competition so no pressure to keep the medals coming!!

Some pictures from the event courtesy of the Irish Paracycling Team

Colin Lynch on the podium

Colin Lynch on the way to a rainbow jersey

Catherine Walsh and Fran Meehan finished 7th place

Enda Smyth in the C3 3km

James Brown and Damien Shaw finished in 14th place

Andy Fitzgerald and Con Collis finished in 17th place

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