Double world champion Mark Rohan is joint top of the funding table
The Irish Sports Council has just announced its funding allocation for high performance athletes for 2012, with fifteen cyclists (see list below) receiving grants in the run up to the London Olympics and Paralympics.
Only three riders – all paracyclists - have been awarded the highest funding allocation; €40,000 each, having been ranked as podium contenders for London 2012.
While Dan Martin is the fourth cyclists to be ranked as a podium prospect, he has only been awarded €20,000. This is the same level of funding for those in the slightly lower band of ‘World Class’ athletes.
The funding is split into three tiers; ‘Podium’, ‘World Class’ and ‘International’.
The three paracyclists to receive the top level of funding are all world champions.
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They include Catherine Walsh (who last week won a gold and bronze at the Paracycling Track World Championships in LA), Mark Rohan (double world hand cycling TT champion) and Colin Lynch (world paracycling road TT champion and newly crowned pursuit world champion).
There are some strange anomalies in the cyclists’ allocations.
For example, while Martyn Irvine has finished sixth in the European Championships, has been in the top five in World Cups and is well on his way to qualifying for the Olympics, he only receives €12,000; the same level as some riders who are not in contention for the Olympics.
Riders like David McCann and Matt Brammeier have been ignored. And while some track riders who are still in the development phases of their careers have been funded, there is no funding for riders like Sam Bennett, Sean Downey and Philip Lavery.
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Overall, the Irish Sports Council has awarded €2.43 million to carded athletes for this year. Individual cyclists have done very well, receiving a total of €296,000. This is third of all sports, behind only boxing and athletics.
See below the full list of carded cyclists and the sums of money they have just been awarded for 2012 by the Irish Sports Council.
Podium
Catherine Walsh Cycling Ireland Podium €40,000 (Para Track)
Mark Rohan Cycling Ireland Podium €40,000 (Para Road)
Colin Lynch Cycling Ireland Podium €40,000 (Para Track & Road)
Daniel Martin Cycling Ireland Podium €20,000 (Road)
World Class
- Cathal Miller €20,000 (Para Track)
- Nicholas Roche €20,000 (Road)
- Caroline Ryan Cycling €20,000 (Track & Road)
International
- Ciara Horne €12,000 (Track)
- Eoin Mullen €12,000 (Track)
- Martyn Irvine €12,000 (Track)
- Philip Deignan €12,000 (Road)
- Enda Smyth €12,000 (Para Track)
- Katie George-Dunleavy €12,000 (Para Track)
- James Brown €12,000 (Para Track)
- Andrew Fitzgerald €12,000 (Para Track)
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