European Paralympic Championships

 

Alkmaar, Holland
August 13th - 19th 2005

Day 1: 3 Gold and 1 Silver for GB

The Great Britain Paralympic Cycling Team celebrated day 1 of the Open European Championships in Alkmaar, Holland with a very impressive performances bringing in 3 Gold and 1 Silver medals and a National Record.

The day started with disappointment in the Women's Tandem Sprint when it was learnt that only the GB tandem of Aileen McGlynn and Ellen Hunter had signed on and were awarded the Gold after the 200m TT. Karissa Whitsell and Katie Compton the Athens double Gold medallists were in Alkmaar but withdrew due to illness and the Aussie Tandems did not travel. The other Nations it seems did not fancy the sprint and will compete in the Kilo in two days time where hopefully the GB pair will repeat their Athens Gold medal form.

Next up was the 4000m Pursuit for upper limb disability, Category LC1. In what was arguably the best ride of the day Gary Williams (right) smashed the National Record in 5:02.65 in his first ever full distance Pursuit to take 5th in the Open Championship. Mark Bristow also broke the previous record with a time of 5:08.18. Paralympic Champion Wolgang Eibeck showed that disability sport is improving very quickly with a new World Record of 4:47.61

True to form Darren Kenny the Golden Boy of Disability Cycling started his 5 Gold Euro quest with a very easy win in the Cerebral Palsy Division 3 Kilo. Recording a time of 1:16.126 Kenny was in total control of his ride and had ex Tour de France stage winner Xavier Ochoa in sight mid way through his effort. (Due to the massive attendance of over 300 athletes from 33 countries the Kilo was run with 2 riders on the track.).

Rik Waddon was not in the form that got him a National Record at the Paralympic World Cup and finished disappointed with a 1:17.50 in the CP4 event.

The final event of the day saw 26 teams contest the Blind and Visually impaired Kilo for Tandems. World Record holders Dan Gordon and Barney Storey went into the event as favourites but in a shock result team mates Ian Sharpe and Paul Hunter took the win with a time of 1:05.183 a little way off the World Record but a big win over Gordon and Storey in Silver position by almost 2 1/2 tenths. Pictured are Ian Sharpe and Paul Hunter atop the podium, surprise victors over Barney Storey and Dan Gordon on their right). 

The mood in the team is buoyant with the only downside being the exclusion of new find Jonathan Gribbin who was internationally categorised with a visual impairment of B4. Paralympic Cycling only has events for riders with an impairment of B1 to B3. He will be allowed to ride the pursuit and Road TT with pilot Zac Carr but the times will obviously not count. Jonathan cannot ride a solo bike due to his sight impairment and it seems unfair that he cannot compete. The classification system can be one of the frustrating things in Disability Sport and a new system is being investigated based on functionality.

Day 2: World Record for Sarah Bailey in Pursuit Qualifier; 2nd Gold for Sharpe and Hunter

Day 2 started very well with Sarah Bailey MBE riding her first 3km Pursuit and breaking the World Record in 4:01.140 in the LC1 category for athletes with upper limb disability. Sarah an international Paralympic Swimmer had been combining a little cycling at Manchester Velodrome with her swim training but National Coach Marshall Thomas quickly saw the potential and persuaded Sarah to dedicate some time in preparation. And very effective it has been! Sarah's pace judgement is amazing and riding to a schedule has been second nature. The previous World best was a 4:02 but the team were confident enough to schedule a 3:58.00 which would have been achieved had it not been for a 3 lap side by side battle with Aussie Claire McLean (see pic above) who stepped on the gas and would not let Sarah pass. Sarah goes into Mondays final with an 8 second advantage over New Zealander Fiona Southorn.

Visually impaired stoker Ian Sharpe and pilot Paul Hunter (pictured) took their second Gold of the Championships with a consistent display of Pursuit riding qualifying in 4:27.010 (pic above) and then beating the Spanish pair of Venge and Llaurado in the final with a solid 4:28.40.

Jonathan Gribbin who was excluded from the championships by the classification panel recorded a super 4:34 time with Zac Carr which would have been good enough to get into the bronze medal ride off in his first ever 4km pursuit. It will now be up to medical experts and the International Classifiers to determine whether Jonathan can continue with his 2 month old Cycling career.

Day 3: Great Britain Head Medal Table
World Records and Gold Medals Fall to GB Team

In a very busy day for the Great Britain Cycling Team in which the team have topped the medal table, the race of the day was the 3km Pursuit for Cerebral Palsy Division 3 athletes. Darren Kenny is in special form at the moment and the spectators witnessed a superb athletic performance in the Alkmaar Velodrome. Kenny whose opponent in the final was none other than Tour de France stage winner Xavier Ochoa who acquired his disability when a car ran him and his brother down, killing the brother and leaving Xavier in a coma.

Kenny set off at a fantastic pace to record a 1:14 first Kilo fractionally outside his World Record Kilo mark and continued to finally catch Ochoa with 2 laps to go. Recording a 3:42.687 Kenny took 4 seconds off his Athens Gold medal winning time.

The day started off with experienced Barney Storey and new stoker Anthony Kappes (right) in the sprint qualifying round. On a track not best suited to tandem sprinting with longer straights and with tighter and lower banking than normal this new pairing were totally committed and recorded a time fractionally outside their own World Record in 10.845 to qualify fastest. They face Germans Moll and Goliassch in Tuesday's semi final.

Next up were the reigning Paralympic Women's Tandem Champions Aileen McGlynn and Ellen Hunter (pic right). Although a win was expected as the Aussies are not here and the US pair have not been able to train since arriving due to injury, there were some new teams, with the Spanish fielding three tandems and the Belarusians two and so this experienced team could not afford to be complacent.

With a season goal of breaking their own World Record all of the signs were that this was a distinct possibility. Off last of the 9 tandems competing they knew that a 1:14 would secure the win. The start was out of this world and the next two laps were good but they tied up in the last lap to finish 4 tenths outside their World Record to take the European Crown in 1:11.549

US based Mark Bristow made his trip from Sacramento worthwhile with a thrilling ride in the LC1 Kilo. Off in the third heat of eleven Bristow saw his time of 1:11.349 withstand not only the effort of team mate Gary Williams (1:13.572) but the rest of the field until Paralympic Champion, Austrian Wolfgang Eibeck just crept under Bristow's time with 1:10.858, relegating Bristow to the Silver medal position.

Day4: More Gold for GB

Day four of the European Paralympic Championships saw the GB Team pick up two more gold medals, though it was the open they missed out on which was the talking point.

Having broken their own world record in the Team Sprint competition, the GB squad appeared to have broken it again in the final, only to be disqualified and relegated to second place, with the commissaires judging one of their changes to have happened outside the approved area. With no commissaires on the line at the relevant point and no video footage to confirm the decision, the GB Team were naturally unhappy. When it then emerged that the Chinese team had fielded an illegal team - a team for this event must include a certain combination of disability categories - but not been disqualified, events threatened to descend into farce.

Meetings between the team managers went on late into the evening and the anticipated move of Paralympic cycling from under the auspices of the IPC to the UCI, in line with all other cycling competition may well be hastened by yesterday's events. GB Team Manager Dave Mellor summed it up - "if we don't get a medal, it's going to affect our guys' funding. We've been told we need to raise the standard of competition in paralympic cycling, but it looks like the organisation isn't moving with us."

On the positive side, Dave said that the championships were still an incredible success "with over 300 riders from over 30 nations here, it's so exciting. And some of the performances have been out of this world."

Back on the track, Barney Storey and new stoker Anthony Kappes won the sprint, overcoming tough opposition and Anthony's relative inexperience along the way. They lost the first ride of their semi against the Germans when Anthony was unnerved by Barney's sudden acceleration and failed to kick in his own effort, allowing the Germans to go one up. The GB pair brought it back to one all with a gritty and physical win in the second heat, before storming through to the final with a more decisive win in the final heat. In the final they rightly spotted that their Danish opponents were tired and geared up and simply used speed to hold them off for a conclusive two-nil win and the title.

Sarah Bailey took the European 500m Time Trial title, but missed out on the "open" title: it's been a remarkable debut for Bailey.

Day 5: GB Top Medal Table

On day 5 of the European Paralympic Championships the organisation released the official medal table after the finish of the track competition and already the confidence that UKSport has placed in British Cycling to deliver a Paralympic Cycling programme to rival it's able bodied programme is starting to show results with GB firmly at the top of the ranking table.

The controversy that marred the end of the track programme with GB's relegation in the final of the Team Sprint due to an alleged false first change still rumbles on. With China taken out of the result due to an error in the composition of their team other Nations think the fairest solution would be to take the result from the qualifier where there were no infringements and award the medals from that round.
Unfortunately this simple solution to a very unfortunate error of the organisation is making no impression with the athletes being penalised with Austria missing out on a medal and GB and Germany having the wrong colour. The attached pictures although not showing the line 15m past the start/finish line do show GB started their change at the beginning of the change zone with Darren Kenny passing Rik Waddon at the start/finish line.

The arrival of 4 of GB's best HandCyclists at the Team Hotel brought a new dimension to the team dynamic today not least when the lift broke and it was left to Manager Dave Mellor to manhandle the 4 of them down 2 flights of stairs in their wheelchairs! In the Category C event, the most able category, hopes were high for a high placing from Ian Marsden but a cruel first lap puncture meant his race was over. In another strange organisational decision following cars were not allowed and neither was neutral service provided on this 8.5km course. Disappointing for Ian and GB and even more stress and heated discussion between GB staff and the organisation. In the Category B event GB had 3 riders in Dave Abrutat, Chris Madden and Rob Wickham and though the race split in the final two laps putting the guys out of the medals there is a great deal of improvement in tactics, teamwork and communication. Shown in the picture is Chris Madden following an early move with the others putting the block on behind.

Day 6: Ochoa takes revenge over Kenny

It was perhaps inevitable that Javier Ochoa would not take kindly to being caught in the CP3 Pursuit track competition by GB's Darren Kenny (right). In Thursday's 16.4km Time Trial the ex Tour de France stage winner handed out a solid 1minute and 20 second defeat to Darren. There was small consolation for Kenny in beating Jean Quevillon (Canada) by 13secs for the silver. Quevillon is the CP World TT Champion who beat Kenny in the United States in June. Tomorrow's Road Race will be very interesting!

International Swimmer turned Cyclist Sarah Bailey (pictured) took the bronze in the European Open Paralympic Championships today in Alkmaar, Holland. Without any previous performances for seeding, Bailey was off first of the LC1 Women so did not have the incentive of any riders to chase and had to give best to Sara Tretola of Switzerland. Tretola finished 4th to Bailey in the 3km Pursuit on the track earlier in the week. New Zealander Fiona Southorn took the silver medal to add to her Pursuit gold.

David Stone wins CP2 Time Trial in Euro Cycling Championship

David Stone who is one of the first recipients of the 2012 Talented Athlete Scholarships took his first step to winning the Nation it's London 2012 Gold Medals.

The Worcester 24 year old a Brighton Uni student has switched to three wheels instead of two and now competes in the Cerebral Palsy divison 2 category for tricycles and in his first international outing has taken the scalp of Mark LeFlohic of Australia who was fastest in the Athens Paralympic Games.

Stone who has been riding the trike for less than two months was just 1.1seconds ahead of LeFlohic in the 8.2km TT today in Alkmaar, Holland and 27secs ahead of South African, Riaan Nell the CP World Champion.

Stone said "I cannot believe it, but there is more to come, we have looked at the technique of LeFlohic and he is so much better in the corners, I still think I am on a bike and forget to lean which puts me on two wheels!"

David competes in the CP2 Road Race on Saturday 20th when hopefully he will safley negotiate the 16 corners of the 4 lap race and bring home another Gold.

Disappointment for GB Hand Cyclists

There was disappointment today for GB Hand Cyclists when they failed to medal in the European Paralympic Championships in Alkmaar, Holland.

Ian Marsden was the first rider to start in the 16.4km Time Trial but could only manage 14th in the C division, 5 minutes behind the winner Alejandro Albor of the United States. Marsden is on a temporary classification and is being observed by the International Classification Panel and could see a change to the B division a move which would have gained a 5th place in that category.

The 3 B division riders finished 10th, 11th and 16th with only 1 second separating Chris Madden recording 33minutes 51secs and Dave Abrutat. Rob Wickham was very disappointed with his ride and finished in 35:39. The winner of the B division was Marcel Pipek of the Czech Republic.

Day 7: Bailey best in Europe; Sharpe and Hunter take Euro TT Silver ; Williams top 10; Kenny injured

Mark Bristow, Russell White and Mark Bristow started the days activities with the LC1 category Individual Time Trial. In a stunning performance Wolfgang Eibeck the Paralympic Champion led an Austrian one, two to win in 33minutes 2secs for the 24.6km test an average speed of 44.681kph. Gary Williams, 9th in 36minutes 5secs said "Eibeck is unbelievable, that is the margin that pro Steve Cummings beats me by in our local 10mile TT." Russell White finished 13th in 36:58 with Mark Bristow riding conservatively in readiness for Saturdays Road Race 16th in 37:29.

The final Time Trial was the men's Tandem for Visually Impaired and Blind Stokers. Jonathan Gribbin who was classified out of the competition earlier in the week was allowed to ride out of competition with Zac Carr and recorded 31:54 which would have been good enough for 5th place. Meanwhile in the competition Ian Sharpe and Paul Hunter stormed round the 24.6km course in 31:22 to take silver sandwiched between two Spanish teams.

 

In her first international competition Sarah Bailey has been something of a revelation. In the LC1 Road Race over 41km Sarah was in the final selection, possibly helped by punctures to both of the Kiwi riders, with Aussie Claire Mclean and Time Trial winner Sara Tretola of Switzerland. Into the final 200metres Sarah made her move a little early but using all the tricks of a seasoned sprinter opened the door for Claire Mclean and then promptly closed it to hold the Aussie on the barriers. Sportingly there was no protest from the Aussie and Bailey has another open Euro crown to add to her collection.

In the most exciting Paralympic Cycle Race, possibly ever, Darren Kenny (pictured) played a major part, was cruelly robbed of his just rewards and has been left injured and on crutches. Without a team mate now that new Golden Boy David Stone has defected to three wheels, Kenny was alone against strong team players in the Spanish Team led by Javier Ochoa and an aggressive Canadian squad. Kenny and Ochoa are certainly the strongest players in this division and Dave Mellor guessed that the Spanish would send riders up the road hoping that Kenny would be worn down chasing them. The guess was right and an early break of 4 went away with Ochoa's team mates in the move alongside Dan Nicholson of the USA and young Brayden McDougall of Canada. They moved out to a minute which was containable, when Ochoa punctured but luckily directly at the pits. There then followed 2 laps of Kenny and Canadian CP World TT Champ Jean Quevillon joining forces to chase the break, with Ochoa on his own trying to rejoin.

With a lap to go the gap was 40secs to the break and Ochoa rejoined Kenny and Quevillon but understandably refusing to work. Kenny promptly attacked bridging to within 20 secs of the break of 3 riders after McDougall had been dropped. Ochoa made it back to Kenny without Quevillon and Kenny attacked again only to be brought to a halt by a major cramp which has caused a calf muscle rupture and the need for medical assistance and crutches. Ochoa made it to the break with 2km to go and the Spanish played the perfect team race sending Oscar Reus up the road in the hope that American Dan Nicholson would chase. Nicholson though was smart, refused to chase and instead settled for out sprinting Ochoa for the silver medal. A fantastic race.