There are world records and rainbow jerseys in Paris as the Great Britain Para cycling team take to the boards in the UCI World Para cycling track championships.
It only becomes more poignant as each rider posts photos online with the words, “for you George” in tribute to our fellow team-mate who is still in a coma.
Those of you who read my column last week will recall that GB athlete George Peasgood is in a coma after he suffered major injuries during training for these world championships.
It was heart-warming to see the team come together for George and it reminds me of the messages I got from the team when I lay in hospital.
George would have been defending his world title in the pursuit but for his accident, and I know the riders would have paused to think of George this week.
That is the beauty of sport, it is a family. Even though I have yet to make it back to the sharp end of competing, I still feel part of that family and I know that sense of belonging will help George in his recovery.
On the first day of racing, the British Team took home three world championship golds with Fin Graham and Libby Clegg adding to Scotland’s hail of rainbow jerseys after Neah Evans’ incredible world title and Katie Archibald’s silver last week during the able-bodied world track championships.
After the year Katie has had, with her partner Rab Wardell, Scottish mountain bike champion, dying suddenly at the age of 37, and a succession of injuries, it was nice to see her here racing and I know everyone in the sport will be wishing her well.
The Para cycling team love to follow in the slipstream of their able bodied team-mates at the Olympics and Paralympics and from the start they have made in Paris it looks as if Great Britain’s Cycling Team will be ending the 2022 season with a haul of medals.
This sets them up perfectly for next year’s World Championships in Glasgow, a race I have in the back of my mind if my body will allow me to train all winter and race at the first world cup in Belgium in May.
Fin is set to add more titles to his season as he is the current leader in the men’s C3 Omnium.
With a weekend of racing yet to come I can’t see any rider matching the Scotsman on the track at these championships.
Along with Graham, Great Britain have seven other riders across all the classifications racing the Omnium in Paris.
With the Omnium set to potentially come into the Paralympics as a new format, it will be an interesting championship to test out riders who will fight for spots in 2024.
It has been a good step forward for para cycling to see the events streamed live on YouTube, but with the Paralympic Games only a few months away, seeing a empty stadium as a cycling fan was disappointing.
It begs the question again, are the UCI doing enough to grow the sport of paracycling? With free tickets on offer, I feel with a little effort the organisers could have filled the velodrome.
Cycling is a big sport in France and if people love to watch it, then I can 100 per cent say they would love paracycling.
Watching these athletes reminds me of a conversation in hospital when I was told a list of things I would never do after becoming paralysed.
I calmly looked at the doctors and told them to watch the Paralympics, you will see the impossible done every day.
Although I have never made it back to the top level of sport as my paralysis continues to cause me more problems, I will never give up trying. Seeing my friends race this week just adds to that drive.
As my back has now finally recovered and I got the all clear from my physio, I will hopefully use the energy from the British camp in Paris to fuel me on to my own two wheels this weekend and start the winter training.
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