IRELAND PARACYCLING DUO Eve McCrystal and Katie-George Dunlevy are closer than ever at the moment — both in isolation together through the Covid-19 crisis.
The pair are used to spending long hours together around the year — they are Paralympic and World Championship gold medallists on the tandem bike — but this is like nothing they’ve done before.
Originally from Crawley in the UK, Dunlevy is happily spending life in lockdown on these shores in the company of pilot McCrystal and her family in Dundalk.
“It’s going well,” McCrystal explained in a video with Paralympics Ireland. “It wasn’t planned.
“Katie had come over two weeks before all this happened. Our team, had an engagement camp pencilled in at the Institute of Sport and Katie came over for that just to get a week done before we went to Dublin.
“Then this all kicked off and she hasn’t gone home.”
“Yeah,” Dunleavy laughs. “In those first few weeks, we managed to get out on the bike and do a lot of miles on the tandem. It just kind of got worse really quickly, it’s changed so quickly, hasn’t it?
“We were going really well this year coming up to the Road World Championships at the beginning of June. I was coming over to get some tandem time in on the road and the engagement camp, and then the restrictions changed so that we couldn’t go more than 2km so we’ve been indoors training.
“It was the best decision for my family at home — I live with my parents — and for me, with the risk of travelling and everything that I would stay here. We’re just training hard every day.”
Enjoying the company of McCrystal and her two daughters, Dunlevy adds:
“It’s a change but I’ve been over here to stay with Eve throughout the years on and off, especially in the summer, getting time in on the bike together. The girls know me quite well, so that’s not so much of a change but the duration is.
“I’m just making sure that I’m staying in touch with my family. Sometimes I’m a bit homesick and struggling a little bit, but on the whole I’m good and we’re training well. I’m enjoying it. It’s not forever and I’m making the most of the time here with Eve.”
The change of family situation certainly doesn’t bother McCrystal, who had taken time off from her work as a member of An Garda Síochána to focus on Tokyo 2020.
“It’s fine. I’m always an open-door policy. I love people around me and I’m definitely a people’s person so to be honest, I prefer that she’s here. We are motivation for each other through these times. We’re on the bike together, we have gym twice a week.
“In my head I’m just looking at like it’s just a long training camp and I have to say I’m really enjoying it.”
Both training indoors on stationary bikes and “ready to go if anything comes up,” McCrystal and Dunlevy feel they have gotten even closer as a duo and a team through this time — and it’s really benefitting them.
“We always were close,” McCrystal says. “I suppose the two of us didn’t know how we’d manage over a number of weeks together at a time but we’re both very easy-going. All we want to do is get up and train; get faster and get stronger.
“You could sit down and take the negatives out of all of this for both of us, but we’ve just taken positives. For me not having to take the kids to school, to go horse-riding, to go to Gaelic, I’m getting an awful lot of rest that I never would have got before so I can see that benefit. I’m learning something new: I should be resting more.
“We always get on, and I think this has benefitted us massively.”
Dunlevy offers: “It’s Eve’s house but she has welcomed me and we just work so well together. It has brought us closer, we’re getting to know each other maybe even a bit more even though we know each other so well — we’ve been training and racing together for many years now.
“It’s just a different scenario and situation for us at the moment, but we’re getting on and motivating each other. We’re so driven, now more than ever, and even with Tokyo another year away, it’s still the same for us.”
See the full interview here.
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