Local athletes scoop awards at ‘virtual’ Sportswoman bash
DUNDALK cyclist Eve McCrystal and her tandem partner Katie-George Dunlevy were honoured at the Irish Times / Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year Awards for their silver winning performance at the Track World Championships in Canada in January of this year.
While most of their success to date has come on the road, the pair having won five gold medals at Para-cycling Road World Championships, they transferred that pedigree into their Canadian performance to claim silver in the Tandem Pursuit and break their own national record in the process.
It was Dunlevy and McCrystal’s finest ever world track result - they also produced an impressive performance in the Tandem Time Trial where they finished fifth - and a perfect start to a year in which their chief goal - before the onset of COVID-19 - was to add yet more Paralympic medals to their collection when they compete in
Tokyo.
While McCrystal is probably best known for her role as sighted pilot for Dunlevy who is blind, this year she became national time trial champion for the first time at the age of 42, to add to the national road title she won in 2018.
She attributed that win to the extra training she did during lockdown. Dunlevy who is based in England came over for a training camp but ended up moving in with McCrystal in Dundalk and not going home for four months because of COVID-19. In a recent interview McCrystal said lock- down was the reason she won the national medal.
‘Every other year, I would have had so much
else going on. I would have been going to work. I would have been fitting sessions in around picking up the kids from school. With lockdown, up until July, I was able to sit down after a session and recover properly. Katie’s parents are elderly, so it wasn’t in their best interests for her to go home. So, she stayed here with us and she thrived. We did our bits and pieces on the bike every day, we recovered really well and it was just a great few months for us.’
Gina Akpe Moses speaks out on racism
This is the 17th year of the awards and McCrystal and Dunlevy were among
12 other monthly award winners nominated for the
2020 title. As sporting activities were put on hold due for several months due to Covid-19, the organisers decided to honour several sportswomen for their inspirational contributions to the wider community this year. One of those was Gina Akpe-Moses who became a powerful voice on the issue of racism along with other Irish sportswomen like athlete Nadia Power and footballer Rianna Jarrett.
In an interview earlier this year she said she wished she could travel back in time and eradicate the idea of racism. ‘Everyone’s life would be so different; everything would be a lot better. But I can’t do that. I have to live through the pain and try my best to make a difference, because I don’t want to raise my children in a world where I have to tell them to be careful just walking down the street or to be afraid of the police – who are meant to protect us.’
Now living in London, where she is studying psychology at the University of East London, Akpe-Moses has been representing Ireland since
she was 15, having moved here with her family from Nigeria as a child, and intends continuing to do so on the world stage for many years to come.
The 21-year-old still has her sights set on the Tokyo Olympics, which, hopefully, will take place next summer, but while continuing her training with that goal in mind, she has put her time, and platform, to good use by helping shine a light on the issue of racism and sharing
her own experience of the issue.
Meanwhile, August winner and hot favourite Katie Taylor, the undisputed world lightweight champion was crowned The Irish Times / Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year. It’s the Bray boxer’s fifth time to win the award and comes after she enjoyed a highly successful 2020, defending her titles against Belgian rival Delfine Persoon and Miriam Gutierrez from Spain.