London 2012 Paralympic Games

CityJet will fly the 2012 Irish Paralympic team and management before, during and after the London 2012 Paralympic Games. To mark the association, Paralympics Ireland’s logo now sits proudly on a CityJet aircraft (pictured above).

Location

CityJet’s core hub of London City Airport is ideal for the team and management as it offers the quickest way to reach all of the Olympic venues in east London. This proximity and the frequency of service (up to six flights daily) will also be key for the thousands of Irish fans expected to travel to London for the Paralympic Games

“Pride and enthusiasm”

CityJet CEO, Christine Ourmières flew in from France to take part in the aircraft-naming ceremony with swimmers Darragh McDonald and James Scully, plus CityJet’s Kieran Rice and Melissa Ruddy. Christine was thrilled with the partnership:

“As an Irish airline, we’re proud to be able to carry the official Paralympic team to the Games.”

“To show our pride and enthusiasm, we’ve dedicated one of our aircraft in their honour, and we hope that between now and the Games, all of our passengers will see, and join in support of the Irish team. We’re looking forward to cheering them on in September!”

Liam Harbison, Paralympics Ireland CEO acknowledged the backing of this key partnership:

“CityJet will provide vital support to the Irish Team and management at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.”

“Huge numbers of Irish supporters are expected to travel to the Games and flying to London City will have them closest to the action in Olympic Park.”

For more information about flying from Dublin to London City with CityJet, please click here.

Allianz webisode featuring Orla Barry, Irish Paralympic athlete and European record holder for F57 discus.

An insight into Orla Barry, Irish Paralympic athlete and European record holder for F57 discus.

www,paralympics.org

The site aims to be the world’s leading source of information about the Paralympic Movement, its athletes and its sports. You’ll find the latest news together with action images and footage of previous Paralympic Games.

Believe in Yourself

Allianz’s new ‘Believe in Yourself’ section, promotes its involvement with the Paralympic Movement via various short videos, information graphics, athlete interviews and a regular “Fact of the Week”. More insights can be found at www.paralympic.org/believeinyourself/ourheroes and top Irish Paralympic athlete, Orla Barry, features in the launch pages. 

Torch Relay Competition

To mark the launch of the site, the IPC is searching for five inspirational individuals to carry the London 2012 Paralympic Flame during an overnight Torch Relay on 28 and 29 August from Stoke Mandeville to the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games.

The competition can be accessed at www.paralympic.org/torchrelay and  the public has until 4pm GMT on Wednesday 29 February to nominate inviduals who merit the following award categories:

• Inspiring grassroots coach
• Inspiring family member
• Biggest inspiration
• Loyal supporter
• Future Paralympian

As well as participating in the Paralympic Torch Relay, the five selected torch bearers will also receive two tickets to the London 2012 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony on 29 August.

Paralympian Torch Bearers

In addition, the IPC is also looking for ten Paralympians to act as Torch Bearers. Any athlete who has taken part in the Paralympic Games since 1960 is eligible to take part and further information can be found at www.paralympic.org/torchrelay.

Torch Lighting

The London 2012 Paralympic Torch Relay will begin on Friday 24 August 2012 when the first Flame lighting event taking place in London. Over the Bank Holiday weekend, the greater Belfast area, Edinburgh and Cardiff will each host a Flame lighting moment and an evening Flame Festival.

On 28 August a special “Lighting of the Paralympic Flame” will be held in Stoke Mandeville, during which all four flames will be brought together for the onward trip to London.

The build-up to the London 2012 Paralympic Games has well and truly begun!

Walsh and Meehan

In the morning’s qualification round, the pair set a new Irish record of 12.259 to leave them in fourth place and secure the last available place in the afternoon’s sprint finals.

The Irish girls were drawn against favourites GB in the first two heats. Catherine and Fran rode very shrewdly but the experience of the British duo shone through and they took both heats.  This result ensured a “best of 3″ series against Germany for the bronze medal.

The plan was to lead out and maintain pressure on the straights to prevent the Germans passing.  This worked well in the first heat and the Irish pair (pictured above) triumphed narrowly. Similar tactics were employed in the second heat and by the bell, the Irish pair had pulled away to win comfortably. 

Mens Tandem/Individual Sprints

The mens tandem pairing of Andrew Fitzgerald and Con Collis put in a good performance to record a time of 11.631. This left them in 17^th place.

Similarly, the team sprint squad of Colin Lynch, Enda Smyth and Cathal Miller finished just outside the top 10, taking 11^th place in a new Irish record time of 56.840.

Best ever World Track Championships

The unexpected bonus of a sprint medal crowned Ireland’s best ever Track World Championships. Ireland finished an impressive seventh in the medal tally out of 31 countries.

The tremendous performances by the squad will likely ensure that Ireland secures its target of at least six places for London 2012 (to be decided shortly). Many congratulations to the athletes, manager Denis Toomey, coaches and support staff – there’s a lot to look forward to!

Colin Lynch

Newly-crowned 3km Pursuit world champion, Colin Lynch was first off in the C2 1km Time Trial. Despite the fatigue of his gold-winning efforts, Colin managed to set a new Irish record of 1:19.245 and take fourth place overall.

Enda Smyth 

Enda started racers from the C3 category and earnt a very credible seventh place in 1:15.593 (narrowly missing his Irish record).  This was a commendable performance following a heavy fall in training earlier in the week.

Cathal Miller 

There was disappointment for Cathal (pictured above) who was next up in the C5 Category. Sitting in second place with a superb time of 1:10.670, the last four riders upped the pace and left him in sixth place overall (Jon-Allan Butterworth of GB took gold with an impressive new world-record).

Day 4 Highlights

Tomorrow’s final day of competition sees tandem pairings of Catherine Walsh/Fran Meehan and Andrew Fitzgerald/Con Collis compete in the Match Sprint Competition.  Colin Lynch, Enda Smyth and Cathal Miller will combine to compete in the Team Sprint Competition.  Whilst none of the squad are sprint specialists, the team will look to finish the championships on a high.

Gold for Lynch

Colin Lynch (pictured above) claimed first place in this morning’s qualifications and then rode a terrific race in the final to set a new Irish Record of 3:51.640 and beat the Chinese world record lolder by six seconds.

This incredible performance means that Colin adds the World Track title to his World Road Championship gold which he won in September 2011.

Other individual results

Elsewhere, Enda Smyth claimed fifth place 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.

Tandem pairings

Irish tandems also competed in the 1km Individual Time Trial and in spite of giving everything in yesterday’s Pursuit 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 12^th place finish.  3km Pursuit World Champions Catherine Walsh and Fran Meehan finished 7^th place in a time of 1:13.826.

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

Tomorrow’s action

All three single bikes are back in action in the 1km Individual Pursuit. The squad will be looking to continue their impressive form.

Gold for Walsh and Meehan

In the 3km Female Tandem Pursuit Qualifiers Catherine Walsh and her Pilot Francine Meehan (pictured above) set a new Irish record of 3:37.392 in the morning heats. This earnt them an afternoon ride-off against the British pairing of Aileen McGlynn and Helen Scott.

The British duo built up almost a second lead by half-way but Catherine and Fran picked up the pace and had almost three seconds to spare when they crossed the line.  A terrific performance that had the stadium on their feet.

Silver for Brown and Shaw

Not to be outdone, our male tandem pairing of James Brown and pilot Damien Shaw also qualified for a gold medal ride-off when their new Irish record time of 4:26.778 secured them second place in the 4km Pursuit heats.

It was a slightly different story as the Australian duo of Bryce Lindores and Scott McPhee opened a good lead right from the start. Despite James and Damien closing them down in the last few laps they still had a few seconds to spare and were deserving winners.  However, it was a terrific result and a slot for London is the reward for the two Irishmen.

Promise elsewhere

Close behind Brown and Shaw in an excellent sixth place were Andrew Fitzgerald and pilot Con Collis in a PB time of 4:33.334. This would have been a new Irish record save for the performance of their fellow Irish pairing.

Irish tandem newcomers Katie-George Dunlevy and pilot Sandra Fitzgerald also showed that they will be future contenders when setting a PB time of 3:48.767. This gave them an excellent seventh place finish in the 3km pursuit qualifiers.

Upcoming races 

All four tandems will also be back in action in today’s 1km Individual Time Trial.  Individual cyclists Colin Lynch (C2), Enda Smyth (C3) and Cathal Miller (C5) will compete in the Pursuit Qualifiers in the afternoon and hopefully finals this evening. 

Follow us on Twitter (@paralympicsire) or Facebook for all the latest results.

Table Tennis

Eimear Breathnach, Rena McCarron Rooney and Philip Quinlan have booked their places after securing precious ranking points in table tennis qualifying tournaments around the world throughout 2011.

This will be Breathnach’s second Paralympic Games (after Beijing 2008). She and McCarron Rooney will compete in the individual TT1-2 class in London’s ExCel Centre and as a team in the TT1-3 event. Quinlan will compete in the men’s individual TT2 event. 

Equestrian

Ireland has been represented by individual riders since the sport made its debut at Atlanta 1996. However, the Irish Para-equestrian team have qualified for a historic first-ever team appearance in the Paralympic Games. Their performance at the Hartpury International event in 2011 ranked them eighth in the world and among the 12 countries who will compete for gold in London’s Greenwich Park.

Eight riders will battle to fill the four places in London. They include Helen Kearney (Mister Cool), James Dwyer (Orlando), Eilish Byrne (Youri), Breda Bernie (Ukina Van Beekdal), Geraldine Savage (Blues Tip Top Too), Angela Lyons (Fahrenheit), Rosemary Gaffney (Aldham Mill Dubloon) and Kate Kerr Horan (Terence Hill).

Further qualification places

22 Irish athletes have now secured qualification places for London 2012 and the squad is on track to reach the target of 40. Further places are expected in athletics, cycling, shooting and swimming and we’ll keep you updated along the way in our Team Ireland section.

The 2012 Irish Paralympic Team will be announced officially on 28 June.

OCS Irish Paralympics Awards

The inaugural black-tie gala event will take place in the Moran Red Cow Hotel, Dublin on Friday 7 December and will honour the achievements of Irish athletes and support team at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Speaking in front of athletes Padraic Moran, James Scully and Eimear Breathnach and OCS/Paralympics Ireland staff and supporters, Michael Ring (pictured above) was honoured to attend: “I am delighted to launch these awards which provide a great opportunity to recognise Irish Paralympic sport.  Last year was another remarkable year for Ireland’s Paralympic athletes and I wish the team continued success at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.”

Sports, Media and Merit 

James Gradwell (President of Paralympics Ireland) and Cecil Ryan, (Regional Managing Director for OCS Europe) both agreed that the awards evening will be an outstanding way to celebrate the biggest-ever year for Irish Paralympic sport.

The full list of awards is as follows:

OCS Irish Paralympic Sports Awards:

• Outstanding Male Performance
• Outstanding Female Performance
• Outstanding Games Debut Performance
• Young Paralympian of the Games
• Outstanding Member of the Irish Paralympic Team (non-athlete)

 OCS Irish Paralympic Media Awards:

• TV Broadcast
• Radio Broadcast
• Photographic Image
• Written (Print or Web)

 OCS Irish Paralympic Merit Awards:

• Induction in the “Hall of Fame”
• Award of the “Irish Paralympic Order”

Thanks again to sponsor OCS for partnering with us on this exciting initiative. For more information about their business, please click here.