The Tullamore Cycling and Touring Club Pat Colgan Pedal the Peaks Challenge took place on Sunday August 28th. It was the first time for the event to return in two years and took place in the picturesque Sleeve Bloom mountains.
Cyclists were officially started by international Paracyclist Josephine Healion, fresh from her Paracycling World Cup success and her World Championship Paracycling Bronze medal won in Canada at her first major championships. To assist Josephine with the official start were her sister Jennifer and their long time pilots Colin Quinn and Billy Colton.
In total 10 tandem teams from across the country participated in the event which had over 330 cyclists cross the finish line.
Event Director from Tullamore Cycling and Touring Club Sinéad Molloy stated “We were delighted with how the event went on Sunday, it was a great success. It was fantastic to have 10 tandem bikes take part and we hope the stokers and pilots enjoyed their day with us – it really was brilliant to have them take part and look forward to having them back, along with even more vision impaired participants in 2023.”
Tom Kelly from the Galway Visually Impaired Activity Club said “It was the first time for our club to attend Pedal the Peaks Sportif in Tullamore. Our hosts had everything very well organised and we thoroughly enjoyed the day. We had 5 tandems take part and the weather was ideal for cycling. We are planning to return next year to take part again.”
The host club were supported by Vision Sports Ireland and Cycling Ireland in promoting the event as fully inclusive. Event coordinator from Vision Sports Ireland Sean Poland said “It was wonderful to collaborate with Tullamore Cycling and Touring Club to encourage stokers and pilots to attend this event. It was a very enjoyable day and all riders returned safely; great credit is due to the host club. Vision Sports Ireland are collaborating with Cycling Ireland to increase Tandem Cycling opportunities for our members and we hope to have many more inclusive Sportif’s in the future”.
If you would like to learn more about Tandem Cycling email Sean Poland at sean.visionsports@ncbi.ie