Mitchell McLaughlin excited to make Paralympics bow

It was just a case of the right moment when the lightbulb came on for Mitchell McLaughlin.

In early 2023, the Drumkeen man spotted a notice that Cycling Ireland were on the lookout for a tandem pilot.

McLaughlin responded, perhaps in hope rather than expectation, but this week the 26-year-old checked into the Olympic village in Paris ahead of the 2024 Paralympic Games.

McLaughlin will pilot the experienced Damien Vereker from Kilmacow in Kilkenny – who was at the last
edition of the Paralympics - in track and road events.

Their partnership hit off from the start.They were ninth at the 2023 UCI Para-cycling Road World

Championships in Scotland having been sixth in McLaughlin's para-cycling debut, the Maniago Para-
cycling World Cup in Italy in April 2023.

“I was in the top three rankings in Ireland when something came up where they were looking for a tandem pilot so I went to Dublin and tested out and they were happy with me,” the 26-year-old McLaughlin, who competes with the Velo Revolution team, says.

“It has been a real learning curve. This is completely different from riding your own bike. I'm really
enjoying it so far.”

McLaughlin's sporting talents were eclectic in his teenage years.

He ran for Finn Valley AC – and indeed made a comeback to help win the team gold at the Ulster Novice Cross Country in 2022 – as well as playing football with Letterkenny Rovers and Gaelic football for St Mary's, Convoy.

He even went between the ropes at Letterkenny Boxing Club. Cycling wasn't an obvious choice.

At his first sportive, he recalls being “last with everyone passing me out”.

He says: “I did a three-day race in Kanturk in Cork and coming up to the finish I lost so much time I was something like 30-40 minutes behind the winner.

“Someone was selling an old black Raleigh bike and I said I'd give it a go. I showed up to a sportif and I was last with everyone passing me out.

“I just put the head down and progressed. At one time, I wasn't mentally strong enough. Mum had got me a bike one year for Christmas, but I gave it up.

“I didn't have the head for it at the time, but Ronan (McLaughlin) supported me and got me going.”

Former pro cyclist McLaughlin, who was part of the An Post Sean Kelly team, was a major influence in
his namesake's progress.

He signed for Zappi Racing Team in Italy in 2020, but the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic curtailed
competitive cycling.

In October 2020, McLaughlin won the under-23 bronze medal in the time trial at the National Road Race Championships at Knockaderry in Limerick. At that stage, cycling had become his sole focus.

He says: “I was starting to get run down, the iron levels were giving me bother. I had to focus on
something and I fell in love with cycling.

“When I knuckled down, I found myself progressing all the time. I've gone to Spain every winter in the last couple of years to give it a lash.”

In January, he won the Benferri CRI, a Vinalopó Interclubs Tournament held in Benferri.

The Paralympics offer him his biggest stage yet and the transition to being a tandem pilot has had its
challenges.

“With two of us on the bike, obviously when you're riding in a bunch you have to allow for an extra bike behind to roll through and cornering is a lot different,” he says.

“With a bit of experience, I can corner now the exact same as I would corner a solo bike.

“The time trial races aren't much different in a way and the courses probably aren't as technical as they would be for a solo bike.”

McLaughlin and Vereker are due on track at the Velodrome de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines on Thursday for the B4 men's 4000m individual pursuit with the 1000m time trial on Sunday. Next week, they head for the road time trial on Wednesday and the road race on Friday.

McLaughlin says: “The road and the time trial is the main aim. We have been in with a chance of winning medals at the World Cup events and only mechanical issues have stopped us really.

“You get those kind of bad breaks in sport though. We do want a medal and we know that we are capable.”