The gift that keeps on giving: Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal have taken another world title on the road.
The domination by Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal of paracycling tandem racing has continued; this time with another gold.
And they’ve done it where it really counts, at the Paracycling World Road Championships.
The duo took the TT title in Maniago, Italy, some 17 seconds ahead of Lora Fachie and Corrine Hall from Great Britain.
Poland’s Iwona Podkoscielna and Aleksandra Teclaw took the bronze, some two minutes back in the 27.7km TT.
The Irish women were defending the TT world title they had won last year, and both were delighted to do so.
“It was quite technical in the first part, and hard to stay on the power,” said Dunlevy afterwards.
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Dunlevy continued: “In the straight sections we just got on the power together. We found out we won it ten minutes after the race and we are delighted.
“This had been what we have been aiming for since September. And it’s a different type of pressure to Rio or any other race. I had that belief that we could win.”
McCrystal, who has been crowned Irish elite road race champion since she last competed as sighted pilot for Dunlevy said trying to retain a title they took last year came with added pressure.
“It’s always hard to win a world title, but to defend it is even harder,” she said.
“We were told after one lap that we were ten seconds down. And we went on to win by almost twenty seconds.
“I knew our form was good going into it, and at this stage we have such confidence in each other.
“When you hear that you are down, you can either put your head down and give in, or you can just go for it.
“I could hear my children cheering for me at the sidelines. And we just went for it.
“When we get to the second lap we really get into our stride. We can just carry it on and settle. We had a good ride – it was steady and it was consistent.”
In the Men’s B Tandem TT, Peter Ryan and Sean Hahessy finished in seventh place. Damien Vereker and Dermot Radford were a further minute back in 12th place.
Ronan Grimes finished 12th in the men’s C4 TT. Colin Lynch was also 12th in the men’s C2 TT.
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