Galway Bay CC man Eoghan Clifford travels to the Paralympics in Rio brimming with confidence having medalled at most of the major championships he's contested since joining the programme two years ago.
By Brian Canty
Eoghan Clifford was a latecomer to paracycling but in the two years he’s been in the high performance programme he’s won the highest accolades available to him.
In his debut season he caused quite a stir when he stormed to victory at the World Championships in the US, taking gold in the men’s C3 road race a few days after winning gold in the time-trial.
The following year saw him win TT gold in a World Cup in Switzerland and a bronze in the road race that followed a few days later.
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This year, there have been two more medals at the World Cup; gold in the time-trial and silver in the road race.
He’s been racing for two decades against able-bodied riders and he has won his fair share.
As a member of the Galway Bay CC team he’s always been a highly-valued member but since joining the Paralympic setup he hasn’t been as available as previous years.
He did ride the national championships in Kilcullen as well as the Shay Elliott this year and a more matter-of-fact rider you’d struggle to find.
His condition is what it is – massively debilitating. But the 36 year-old has never known any different as he was born with it.
‘It’, by the way, is the muscle-wasting condition Charcot-Marie-Tooth that affects his hands and legs.
Rudimentary tasks like pinning on race numbers and using a knife and fork can be problematic while a lack of finite finger control has seen him drop things from time to time.
“It’s not easy but I’m used to it,” he says of the small everyday things that catch him.
“It only gets me the odd time and I can do everything I need to.
“I think the simple things affect you more, like when you drop something or do something silly but there’s far worse out there and I’m very lucky.”
Despite his condition Clifford lives a very full life, both on and off the bike.
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A married father of nine-month old Sophia, he works as a research programme manager in NUI Galway and is loving being part of the Cycling Ireland paracycling set-up.
“I’ve enjoyed the paracycling a lot, though it’s probably been the hardest year I’ve ever had on the bike," he says.
“I’ve had a lot of injuries and a lot of time I didn’t even want to look at the bike.
“I’d have been training away obviously but not with the same enthusiasm as normal.
"The training hasn’t gone great because of injuries but so far I’ve been able to pull it out on race days.
“And that’s because my coach and physio as well as everyone at Cycling Ireland have supported me and that’s been second to none.
"I can see things are going in the right direction again training-wise.”
Standing, walking and running pose big problems for Clifford.
He gets pains in his hands and legs. He has knee problems. He says he couldn’t possibly win a sprint in a race.
“A lot of it is because of my own biomechanics and the condition I have,” he explains.
“It’s a form of muscular dystrophy that I was born with but it really only hit me in my early teens.
“It’s a genetic thing that affects walking, standing, running; things like pinning on numbers is almost impossible.
"My hands have lost their dexterity and your muscles in certain areas deteriorate over time.”
Saying that, he has the self-confidence to believe that medals are very much within his compass next month.
“Being honest, I wouldn’t be going unless I can medal in all my events," he said.
“Last year has been tough and the confidence took a battering but my coach Neil and physio has come up with a programme to help my injuries and hopefully, I’ll be back in form.
"And if I’m in form I’d be very confident of medalling in all three events. There’s no reason I can’t get to that level.”
Clifford competes on Friday September 9th in the individual pursuit (on the track), Wednesday the 14th in the time-trial and two days later (16th) in the road race.
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