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Paralympic Grand Prix of Wales |
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The event was run as a Track Omnium with points up for grab in the 200m sprint, the 500m/1km Time Trial and the 3km/4km Individual Pursuit.
Cathal Miller was in flying form in the LC1 Male competition with three straight wins guaranteeing him his first big win of 2009. His time in the 4km Pursuit was 4:55.014 just 2 seconds off his record set in Beijing so we can look forward to that record falling further in the near future.
Female Tandem pairing of Catherine Walsh and Caroline Ryan set their second Irish Record of the week this time in the 1km Time Trial which they won in a time of 1:15.415 almost a full second better that the time recorded by Catherine in Beijing. A further win in the 3km Pursuit set them up nicely for to regain the title won by Catherine and Joanna Hickey in 2008.
Not to left out Enda Smyth competing in the CP4 Category set a new Irish Record of 1:15.025 in the 1km Time Trial and also set a new Irish Standard time of 5:24.051 when winning the 4km Pursuit. The UCI has decided 4km will be the Pursuit distance for CP4 riders in the future up from the 3km distance used in previous competitions.
Female LC1 rider Ann McFarland riding in just her second Paralympic competition put in three good rides to finish in second place behind the USA rider.
Only the USA Team who won four events out scored the Team from Ireland at this the fourth running of the event in Newport.
We hope the whole squad can now build on these performances in preparation for the World Road Championships in Italy in September and the World Track Championships in Manchester next November.
By Denis Toomey, Irish Paralympic Cycling Manager
May 25th, 2009
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