Offaly cyclist selected for Paralympic Games

AN Offaly woman has been selected for the Paralympic Games in Paris later in August. The Games take place in the French capital after the conclusion of the Olympics and Cappincur woman, Josephine Healion will compete in a cycling event there.

She has made great progress since becoming a member of Tullamore Cycling and Touring Club in 2015 - graduating from the beginning of her leisurely cycling career with the club to where she is now, a member of the Irish Paralympic squad, bound for the Paralympic games in Paris..

Josie was introduced to paracycling in 2015 through a combination of Vision Ireland (formerly the NCBI) and Tullamore Cycling and Touring Club. Josie and her sister Jenny were taken out on tandems by Fiona Claffey and Paula Tynan on Saturday mornings with the help of club members Billy Colton, Aidan McNamara, Robbie Westman, Colin Quinn and Dave Dooley, using a tandem which was of a poor quality.

Josie’s sister Jenny who is also visually impaired joined the group and partnered with Adrian Carroll, Gay Davis and Alan Smith on a recumbent tandem which Fiona Claffey, Chairperson of the day secured with the help of Seamus Buckley of Buckley Cycles, Tullamore.

There was no coffee stop on the spin, but within a short time the group began to stop in Moate, and this became the official ‘Saturday morning coffee spin’. The girls were enjoying their outings, and a competitive streak was noticed in Josie, where she always wanted to race to the finish line and pass everyone out!

Josie and Jenny continued to cycle leisurely with TCTC and took part in group spins over the years.

In 2021, club member Killurin Fran Meehan approached Josie after the Tokyo Games and offered to take Josie out to coach her for competitive cycling – Fran previously competed in the Paralympics as the sighted cyclist for a visually impaired cyclist. Tullamore Cycling and Touring Club Chairperson of the day Dermot Milner, and club members Billy Colton, Colin Quinn and Paula Tynan held a meeting with Fran and Josie to put a plan in place to help improve Josie’s training so that she could try her hand at being a contender for the Irish Paralympic team by taking part in the time trials in Athlone the following year.

Once Covid restrictions lifted, Fran used her own tandem which she had used previously at the London Paralympic Games in 2012, and they began a ten month journey of training 3 to 5 days per week, both cycling and running. During the winter months, when they couldn’t use the road, they trained over zoom. Fran was Josie’s first pilot in a competitive race, and they went on to win their time trial in Athlone in the Spring of 2022.

Following this, Josie’s times began to be noticed by Cycling Ireland, and Josie was assigned a coach and her training began with cycling Ireland. From there, Josie went on to compete in the World Championships in Canada in August 2022 securing a bronze medal.

It was during this time that then Chairperson Dermot Milner, along with other club committee members began to seek funding with the help of local Councillor Tony McCormack from Offaly County Council for the purchase of two club tandems, to help Josie and Jenny to train more regularly with the club. Tullamore Cycling and Touring Club are very thankful to Offaly Leader and Offaly County Council who provided grant aid funding which enabled the purchase of two new high spec tandem bikes.

Special thanks to Roisin Lennon, Josephine Lennon and Cormac Mahon for all their help and assistance throughout the project which took more than a year to bring to fruition. The Club would also like to acknowledge funding from Tullamore Credit Union’s Community Support fund which went towards the upkeep of the old tandems whilst awaiting the delivery of the new bikes. Tullamore Cycle Centre were also very generous in providing a cleaning kit towards their maintenance, all very important in keeping the bikes running smoothly.

There was no stopping Josie, as she continued to compete internationally in 2023 by taking part in the Paracycling World Cup Series, as part of the qualification process for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The first of these took place in Maniago, Italy in April, where Eve McCrystal and Josie were placed fourth in the time trial and took tenth place in the road race. As this was their first event as a paring, they had a lot of valuable learning on this trip including how to race towards each of their strengths.

The second Paracycling World Cup took place in Oostende, Belgium, at the start of May. Again the paring were placed 4th in the time trial, and they took second place in the road race. This was a very positive performance from them as a paring and showed that they were making huge improvements. The more exposure Josie got to racing, the stronger she became and her confidence grew.

The third and final Paracycling World Cup was held in Huntsville Alabama at the end of May 2023. The outcome for the time trial was 5th at this event and they won a sprint for 2nd place in the road race. The trip to the US was another very successful weekend of racing for them. They were delighted to win the sprint finish as it showed what they can achieve as a pairing.

Overall, this was a hugely successful Paracycling World Cup series and left Josie in a very good position for qualification for Paris.

Now Josie is full time cycling and treated no differently to other Irish athletes, in that she receives funding from Sport Ireland to train as a full-time athlete. Josie commits to training on her own in a gym with high tech equipment, completing two to three double sessions per week, along with 16-25 hours of indoor turbo training sessions a week, in addition to focusing on nutrition.

Josie’s coach Jamie Blanchfield has access to all of her data and Cycling Ireland provide Josie with a tandem for training sessions. Josie has been following a strict training regime and the focus is on completing cycling hours rather than distance. This year from the Club’s perspective Josie has been taking part in the long Sunday spins, Tuesday evening spins and the summer Midland league with club members using the new club tandem, which enabled Josie to hit all her markers set by cycling Ireland.

Josie is over the moon with excitement and can’t wait to travel to Paris along with the other Irish athletes. Paralympics Ireland have now taken Josie and all paralympians under their wing by providing all cyclists with a Paralympics Ireland training kit. Josie’s enthusiasm and commitment has paid off, as well as the commitment by Tullamore Cycling and Touring Club Committee and members to invest the time, manpower and bikes to help Josie on her Olympic journey.

Josie’s sister Jenny recently came to the fore at the 2024 Mondello24 hour cycle which took place over the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd June at Mondello racing circuit, alongside club members Colin Quinn, Billy Colton, and Ciarán Butler, as part of the Paracycling Ireland tandem team. The bicycles took to the track in traditional Le Mans 24hr style, clocking up significantly more than 160kms each. The pairing of Colin Quinn and Jenny Healion both rode well despite the heavy legs and helped their team to 8th place in a very tight competition. A great weekend was had by all the team. A great future for tandem cycling in the club.

“What an amazing young woman and role model Josephine (Josie) is. Congratulations Josie on your amazing achievement. We are all so very proud of you at Tullamore Cycling and Touring Club and are thrilled to have our very own Olympian in the Club,” said chairperson Martina Martin