Homecoming in Mountcharles for Katie-George Dunlevy at the end of September

After winning gold and two silver medals at the Paralympics in Paris in the past week, there is no rest for Katie-George Dunlevy as she is off this weekend to Zurich for the final event of the year, the World Paracycling Championships, where she will defend her titles won last year in Glasgow.

But the good news is there are plans for an official homecoming to her father’s native Mountcharles to show off her Paralympic medals towards the end of the month when the World Championships are over.

The proud holder now of eight paralympic medals - four gold and four silver - from Rio, Tokyo and Paris, Katie-George returned to Dublin Airport on Monday with the rest of the Irish team and was met by her parents, John and Alana. From there it was back home to Crawley in London with training on Tuesday morning.

Then it’s back to Dublin on Friday for the Late Late Show and afterwards herself and tandem partner Linda Kelly are off to the Worlds.

Katie-George on the Aer Lingus flight home from Paris to Dublin Picture: Sportsfile

The last few weeks have been special for the Dunlevy family, who were all in Paris for the Paralympics and Katie-George revealed this week that it was very special to have them there. “My parents have been to a lot of my competitions but my sisters hadn’t seen me race since 2012, so  that was really special. They were just bursting with pride,” said Katie-George. “They were heard in central Paris at the medal ceremony they were making so much noise.”

“It is kinda sinking in now what I have achieved. Four gold and four silver, if someone had said that to me a couple of months ago, I wouldn’t have believed them, when I broke my collar bone. To be here and compete and win medals was great.”

Katie-George was really happy to get a silver medal in the 3k on the track partnered by Eve McCrystal. “We did really well in the first race,  the 1k, and we took confidence from that going into the 3k. We actually had a bad draw against the UK bikes. I was going into it nervous and felt we would be lucky to get into the top three. We delivered a great ride and finished with the second fastest time. 

“I was so delighted I screamed my head off. It was like a gold. And then I had to settle myself again to go in the gold medal race. We had another fantastic ride and it was just the two laps at the end, we didn’t have it, but that was down to lack of track time.”

The silver medal was Ireland’s first of the games and it was a nice way to sign off on the partnership with Eve McCrystal. “Yeah, it was nice to get a medal for all the journeys, the memories and highs and lows. To sign off a medal after 10 was special.”

It was then on to the road and the time trial with new partner Linda Kelly and the pair decimated the field to take gold. “I can’t believe we won by that much. It was the biggest margin of a win I’ve ever had. I wanted to defend my title and Linda had great pressure after stepping in a few years ago. She is such a fighter,” said Katie-George, who said they had a support car and they were in constant contact and knew where they were at.

“It is such an exhaustive sport. Your whole body is screaming in pain, your lungs are burning but you’re controlling your bike at the same time. So it is actually mentally and physically exhausting. So we just left everything out there,” said Katie-George.

The Katie-George fan club in Paris Picture; Sportsfile

The final event, the road race, saw Katie-George and Linda lead all the way but they couldn’t get rid of their great rivals, UK pair Sophie Unwin and Jennie Holl, who stuck to their wheel all the way and didn’t want to share the burden. And in the final 500 yards, they just pulled away to take the gold.

“We kinda knew that would be the case. They just played that game and they refused to work with us. We didn’t have any choice. We tried so many times to get away but we couldn’t. I was disappointed (afterwards) but looking back since, it’s a silver medal and in road racing anything can happen, a puncture. In the last road race I had I broke my collar bone and in Linda’s last road race, she suffered concussion.

“We are very lucky. We finished upright and we got the silver medal.”

So what now for Katie-George Dunlevy. “Yeah, we are back training this week and then off to the World Championships. And you know, we are just going there and enjoying it. It would be great to get more World gold but we will go there and enjoy it and after that we will have a break.”

As for the future, Katie-George is not sure about the future after that. “I will carry on for a year, but after that I’m unsure because it is a huge commitment. If I do carry on I want to be sure that I can give the commitment.  I will see,” said Katie-George, who said she was looking forward to visiting Mountcharles at the end of the month with her paralympic medals.