Life’s ambition to get to Paralympics 2016
DECLAN SLEVIN
- 79.00 % funded
- € 1,185.00 pledged
- 0 Days Left
WHO IS DECLAN SLEVIN:
Declan Slevin is a family man, married for 20 years with three children. He is a carpenter by trade who sustained a spinal injury from an accident at his home in 2004, where he was paralysed from the waist down.
Declan comes from Rosemount, Co. Westmeath and has been a paracyclist for nearly 4 years. He became an avid sportsperson after this life changing event, firstly venturing into the sport of wheelchair basketball.
He was then introduced to paracycling and competing in a Time Trial (TT) in Athlone in 2012. This is where Declan found the freedom and thrill for handcycling and decided to dedicate more and more time towards the sport specifically competition.
Declan has been invited and is very proud to be the ambassador for the Irish Wheelchair “Angels” campaign for the handbike angel. He has also held the position of Paracycling Secretary for Cycling Ireland for the last two years.
WHERE WE ARE:
He founded Rosemount CC with fellow cyclist and friends and train weekly with them all year round. He complements his training still with wheelchair basketball two nights a week.
Sports dominated Declan’s routine, he heads to Aspire gym three times a week, devotes 10 plus hours to handcycling training. With this schedule it would not be dissimilar to that of a full-time professional athlete.
Finishing off the cycling season of 2013 Declan ventured to the international scene where he competed in the European Handbike Federation League last leg in Barcelona, Spain.
At this event he was introduced to handbike road race scene as well time trial. Such a great buzz to be competing with the World’s Elite handbike cyclist and finding a place on the table knowing what challenges lay ahead to compete against them the following year.
2014 and 2015 lead to more training, National and International Events where Declan improves placing all the time. Winning the National League and climbing the ladder on the international stage Declan has also in set a new National TT Record taking 4 minutes of the previously set record.
WHERE WE GO FROM HERE:
Competing for his country has been a huge achievement and been able to wear his national jersey on the international stage has such very proud moments.
2016 lays ahead with some major challenges, qualification for the Rio Paralympics is all down to points gathered on the international front. Attending these event such as the forthcoming World Cups in South Africia and Belgium, possible selection for the World events and hopefully qualifying to represent his club and country in Rio 2016.
As a self funded athlete to date the challenges and expenses of travelling to international events, transportation of equipment, repair and maintenance of equipment and general training costs are the biggest obstacles for Declan going forward.
Help with this will allow full concentration on the necessary areas that Declan needs to devote this time to fulfil his dream.
Thank you
+Achievements
National Handbike Champion 2015 & 2012
National Championships 2015 were held in Omagh in June where Declan competed on a 27km Time Trial hilly course, three years previous the Nationals 2012 were held in Wicklow where the Time Trial was a 16km event.
National Record for the distance of 16km
Declan took 4.03 minutes of the previously held record. He set a new time of 26 min 28 sec achieving his personal best for a 16km course.
Invacare National League Handbike Winner 2015 & 2014
Declan held top position in all 6 stages of the league for 2015 keeping his podium position for the series. Wearing the yellow jersey for a second year running.
International Racing 2015
As this was Declan's third year of international racing there were improvements year on year. Achieving 7th place general classification in Cologne, Germany in May and this was improved to 5th place general classification in Bilbao, Spain in July against the world's elite cyclists adding to Ireland's tally of qualification points for Rio 2016.
+Thank Yous and Updates
Winter Training
Well the winter training is going well and with gym three days a week and road training ongoing with turbo sessions in the local hall everything is going well. So competition starts on the 27th February with the first of the Invacare National TT League taking place with a 16km Time Trial and then get the bags packed to the first international event in Abu Dhabi in March and I will be in full swing of the season by then - results will be posted
Thank you for your support to date
I am blown away with the support I have received with this campaign and local support over the last few weeks. I would like to thank everyone who have given to the fund and those sending me good wishes. Just to let you all know what your contribution can do: €10 can buy a tube for the bike, with road training you need a constant supply of tubes and the handbike has three wheels so not a week goes buy that need to fix a wheel. €50 will go towards the gym and training sessions €100 will support monthly costs for the various nutrition and supplement required for pre and post training and those vital preparation days pre and post race events. €500 will be indebted to your kindness and contribute to the costly expenses in travelling to the international event throughout the year.