Offaly woman's great cycling adventure led to international triumphs

KILLURIN woman Francine Meehan had her spell in the limelight in the 2010s as she made her presence felt in the cycling world.

A very hard, committed trainer, Meehan competed in two Paralympics Games, winning silver bronze in the 2012 London showpiece.

Meehan was the sighted partner for a visually impaired cyclist, Dubliner Catherine Walsh. In London, Walsh and Meehan won silver in the Women’s B Individual Pursuit final and won bronze in the Women’s B Time Trial.

They also competed in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralypics, this time in the paratriathlon, where they finished eight.

Her and Walsh were a great team and they excelled at events throughout the world, regularly finishing on the podium. They also won a few World Time Trial medals on the tandem.

She was also a superb cyclist in her own right. She did well in conventional events and loved cyclo-cross: those races generally took place on off road surfaces such as grass, dirt and mud in areas such as woods and fields with obstacles adding to the challenge and they generally lasted on the region of an hour.

Meehan won six national cyclo cross titles from 2009 to 2015 while she won bronze in the national time trial in 2013 and was woman's national road race series champion in 2009. She also competed well in the national championships, finishing third in 2014. She won club events and grand prix races all over the country.