Drummond Clinic is delighted to announce that Maidonian cyclist Katie-George Dunlevy has joined the Clinic Ambassador Programme.
Katie-Geroge is visually impaired and suffers from retinitus pigmentosa. As she is half Irish (her father was born in Donegal) she cycles for Paracycling Ireland. She takes part in both track and road events, where she is known as the ‘stoker’. Blind and visually impaired athletes compete against each other riding tandem bicycles, where they have a fully sighted captain who sits up front. The blind or partially sighted athlete sits up back, and is known as a stoker.
Although Katie-George has been sporty her whole life, and is an accomplished rower (she won Gold representing GB in both the the 2004 & 2005 World Champs), her journey as a paracyclist has been quite rapid.
“In April 2011 I was on an Irish Paralympic rowing camp and during that I was asked by the cycling team to try out for the squad. Three weeks later I was representing Ireland at the World Road Championships in Denmark. Since then I have competed in Los Angeles in the World Track Championships. Based on my performances I am hoping to be selected as part of the squad going to the Paralympic Games in London 2012.”
You can read more about Katie-George’s journey on our website shortly, including whether she is successful in qualifying for the Paralympics.
Katie-George was born in Crawley, West Sussex, but has lived in Maidenhead for the last 6 years. She has been coming to the Drummond Clinic for about a year, to get a regular sports massage and to work on a few niggles she has had. We have also done a Cycle Assessment for Katie on her solo bike.
Paralympic Cycling was originally developed as a sport for blind athletes, who first competed using tandem bicycles. Technological advancements have since opened up the sport to a wider range of athletes; as a result, it is now the third largest sport on the Paralympic programme.