Irish Paralympic cycling cash crisis

A SENIOR Paralympic official admits Irish hopes of qualification for the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games is under threat due to financial constraints.

Paralympic Cycling Ireland manager, Denis Toomey, yesterday expressed his disappointment at the level of funding available for the Irish Sports Council.

Said Toomey: “Our minimum costs for 2007 will be at least €83,000; this is just to cover the race entry, equipment, travel and accommodation. With a set of track wheels costing in the region of €4,000 per set and a top- class tandem costing up to €5,000, much more is required to give the squad their best support.”

The Irish squad received just €15,000 in Irish Sports Council funding in 2006. They hope that this will double for 2007, but will still face a shortfall of at least €53,000.

“It’s hard for us not to contrast our situation with that of Britain, whose squad receives £1 million sterling per annum and have two indoor velodromes at their disposal,” said Toomey.

Crucial to Ireland’s hopes of increasing their single qualification slot at the 2004 games in Athens, will be attaining ranking points at the Paralympic World Cycling Championships in Bordeaux next August.

At the 2006 championships, the Irish squad set six new Irish records, and with four top-10 finishes Irish athletes could well be in contention for medals at the 2007 championships.

Toomey hopes to send the largest Irish squad to this year’s world championships. Included in the squad will be both male and female visually impaired cyclists who compete on tandem bikes with a sighted pilot up front, at least one cerebral palsy cyclist and at least one locomotor disorder (limb amputee) cyclist.

To secure maximum ranking points, the squad competes in both track and road competitions. But as Ireland has no indoor track or velodrome, the squad have to train outside of Ireland, which adds to the financial and time pressure on the association and its athletes, all of them are volunteers and have day jobs.

“We have a very committed squad, and they are prepared to put in the hard work to help us achieve our dream of sending four bikes to Beijing. But without the money to support the intensive training programme required, all their work could be for nothing.

“We urgently need to secure adequate funds to ensure we can train and compete at the same level as our competitors. I am appealing to ‘Corporate Ireland’ to come to our rescue and help ensure Irish Paralympic cyclists secure maximum qualification slots for Beijing 2008,” said Toomey.