Fresh from winning world championship silver, Katie-George Dunlevy speaks to Damian Dolan about her hopes for this yearâs Paralympic Games in Tokyo
Katie-George Dunlevy is having a well-earned few days off. Twenty-four hours earlier she arrived back in the U.K. from the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Milton, Canada, where she and her pilot, Eve McCrystal, set a new national record on their way to winning silver in the Womenâs Tandem Pursuit Race.
Itâs the pairs best ever performance on the Track. Their timing couldnât be better, with the countdown on to the Paralympic Games in Tokyo in August.
Between the physical exertion, the jetlag and not being able to sleep on the overnight flight, sheâs âwreckedâ.
But this is a day off by Dunlevyâs standards. Sheâll still be hitting the gym straight after weâve finished speaking.
Itâs just for âa lightâ session, just to keep her âbody movingâ she says.
âItâs more of a mental break. Iâm used to training nearly every day â I donât have much time off,â Dunlevy told the Irish World.
Itâs the same level of single-mindedness which has seen her overcome numerous set-backs in her life and sporting career to become a Paralympic and multiple world champion.
Silver in Canada had her âjumping up and down for joyâ.
While Dunlevy and McCrystal have been almost untouchable on the road since 2016, in the Time Trial and Road Race, Canada was just their third medal on the Track.
Previously theyâd won bronze on the Track at the 2018 and 2015 worlds.
Their time of 3:27.358 broke their own national record by over three seconds, and sent them into the Gold-Silver medal ride-off with New Zealand.
That proved a step too far, but Dunlevy says Track medal hopes for Tokyo are ârealisticâ.
âThe main aim is Toyko, but it was a good chance to see where weâre at, and where the competitionâs at,â said the 38-year-old.
âWeâve been aiming for that Gold-Silver medal ride off for years, and to finally get there was absolutely fantastic.â
She added: âWe can get faster, on and Track and the road, between now and Tokyo. We are aiming for a medal on the Track for sure – weâll be aiming for that Gold-Silver medal ride-off again.â
đŁď¸ “We’re absolutely over the moon. It’s exciting, it drives us on to improve and try to get better”@KatieGDunlevy on that World Championship Silver medal and Irish Record breaking performance đĽ#TeamIreland pic.twitter.com/Sd4tKjNgKJ
â Cycling Ireland (@CyclingIreland) February 1, 2020
Itâs on the road where the pair have truly excelled. Gold medal winners in the Time Trial in Rio in 2016, Dunlevy and McCrystal also took silver in the Road Race.
Theyâve since won world Time Trial gold three years running, and taken two golds and a silver in the Road Race.
From here, the pedal will be hard to the floor through to the Road World Championships in Belgium in June. A chance to assess their rivals ahead of Tokyo.
It will be the first time thereâs been a World Road Championships in a Paralympic year, a change Dunlevy welcomes.
âItâs brilliant; it will be good to see what we need to do in the final stages coming up to the Games,â she said.
Never âcomplacentâ, itâs a fear of what their rivals might be doing, or that they might be working harder than them, that drives them on.
Just as important, between now and Tokyo, is the time Dunlevy and McCrystal will spend training together.
That throws up its own logistical issues. Dunlevy is based in Crawley in Sussex, and McCrystal in Dundalk in Co Louth.
Dunlevy will be âback and forwardâ to Ireland between now and June, where the pair will rack up the miles on the roads. Itâs ânot idealâ, but they âmake it workâ.
âThe time we do spend together we train really hard and we always make the most of every session,â said Dunlevy, who always had Tokyo in her sights.
McCrystal, though, took longer before making up her mind to commit.
Had McCrystal decided to call it a day, it would have left Dunlevy needing to find another pilot, and then to build the kind of successful relationship that has taken her years to develop with the Louth rider.
It wasnât until 2018 that McCrystal made up her mind to go for it.
The pair are now fully focused on defending their Time Trial Paralympic title, and winning Gold in the Road Race.
She added: âItâs going to be difficult to retain it, but weâre going to do the best we can.
âWeâve got a great coach and team behind us, so we believe we can [do it]. Weâre just going to go for it and give it everything weâve got.â
Theirs was no overnight success story. Rio came two years after they first paired up. It all culminated in Rio, where they were âjust unbeatableâ.
âWe were improving and seeing really good results, but it was only in 2016 that we started to win races,â says Dunlevy, who was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa when she was 11.
For Dunlevy, Rio was the âbest dayâ of her life. It made all the sacrifices and set-backs along the way âworth itâ.
Initially a rower, she had world championship success with Britain in 2004 and 2005, but missed out on selection for the Beijing Paralympic Games in 2008.
After a âdifficultâ time with the GB rowing squad, Dunlevy, whose father is from Donegal, tried out for Ireland in 2010.
But failure to make the Ireland team left her âmentally and emotionally at the end of my tetherâ.
She said: âI had a lot of set-backs in rowing; Iâd been turning up for the trials year after year with really no support, and missing out.â
It was then that someone involved with the Irish team suggested she try cycling. Up until then, it wasnât a sport sheâd even considered.
âWhen cycling came along, I was ready for it. I still had that drive, work ethic and determination in me and I was able to transfer it over to cycling,â she said.
âThe coach said âwe want you to go to the World Championships in six weeks time and represent Irelandâ,â recalls Dunlevy.
âI said, âbut you havenât seen me on a bike yetâ. He said âfrom what Iâve seen and what Iâve read, I think youâll be greatâ.â
She added: âThey had belief in meâŚ.maybe they saw something in me.
â[ I had] six weeks to learn how to ride a tandem and race it. I was in at the deep end for sure.â
But six weeks later there she was, on the start line at the 2011 World Championships in Denmark.
Dunlevy recalls a crash in the first few kilometres taking several bikes out of the race, and she and her pilot (Louise Moriarty) finishing outside the top ten. But Dunlevy was hooked.
âI loved it; I loved every second of it. I loved the thrill of the road race, the tactics, the chase, the speed. I wanted to do it again,â she said.
The following year she represented Ireland at the London 2012 Games â an experience she describes as a âwhirlwindâ and âamazingâ.
She said: âI was only in my development stage with tandem racing, but I trained hard leading up to it. I didnât want to make up the numbers â I wanted to do the best I could.â
No medals, but it lit a fire within Dunlevy.
âIt gave me such drive after that. Seeing the medallists I was like âI want to win, I want to be on that podiumâ,â said Dunlevy, who is âunsureâ what life holds after Tokyo. McCrystal has already confirmed that Tokyo will be the end for her.
âI wonât walk away straight away, but whether I carry on to Paris in 2024, Iâm unsure,â said Dunlevy.
Thatâs for another day, the focus now is on Tokyo, and ideally Dunlevy would like to take to the start line on a new tandem road bike.
Katie and Eve have a quick word with us after their 5th place finish and National Record in the Kilo TT this evening#TeamIreland @KatieGDunlevy @evemccrystal pic.twitter.com/eiM43S9zw3
â Cycling Ireland (@CyclingIreland) February 1, 2020
Not that her current bike hasnât served her well â she rode it to Gold in Rio and every world championship success since.
But this is a âvery expensiveâ sport. With equipment, the cost is in the region of ÂŁ15,000. She hopes to find sponsors to help fund its purchase, while training to win gold.
Itâs just another obstacle to overcome.
âTurning up on the start-line with a new bike thatâs running well gives you that mental edge â âweâve got a new bike and weâre going to be flyingâ,â she says.
âIf weâre on the Rio bike and everyone else has a new bike, these things can play on your mind.â
But a new bike alone wonât secure gold â preparing for the hot and humid conditions theyâre going to be faced with in Tokyo will be vital.
The course will be hilly and technically challenging, and the oxygen content low.
âIf youâre not prepared for the heat and humidity itâs going to cost you,â said Dunlevy. âThe conditions are going to be extreme – very different to anything weâve raced in before.â
Replicating those conditions in training means getting creative for Dunlevy and McCrystal.
âWeâre going to be training in a bathroom with a humidifier and the heat turned up. Itâs going to be horrific, but thatâs what weâve got to do,â she says. âWhoeverâs prepared the best and can deal with the conditions is going to win.â
Itâs all just challenges, and Dunlevy has already overcome plenty of those.
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