Tag Archives: Clare cycling

Clare cyclist Imogen Cotter has been named on the Irish team for the upcoming UCI eSports Cycling World Championships. Cotter has received a wild card to compete in next month’s World Championships. The selection caps a remarkable comeback for Cotter who just over a year ago was struck by a van driving on the wrong side of the road while she was on a training ride in Spain. The Ruan woman had just signed her first professional cycling contract at the time but despite fears that the collision could cost her a career in the sport, she was able to compete again eight months after the accident when racing at the 6th Grote Prijs Beerens in Belgium. Earlier this month, Cotter was confirmed as part of the renamed Fenix Deceuninck squad’s new development team and will compete as a UCI Continental rider. Before the crash, Cotter was in the form of her life as she secured the biggest race win …

“Miles to go before I sleep” – Robert Frost You might ask what does a quote from a poem published exactly 100 years ago, have to do with Ruan cyclist Imogen Cotter? The quote is etched on the back of Cotter’s arms with Frost’s words certainly summing up her determination in coming back from a horrific accident in January 2022. The Ruan woman had just signed her first professional contract, but everything changed when she was hit head on by a car driving on the wrong side of the road when training in Spain. What followed was months of surgeries, rehab and physiotherapy as she continues to work her way to full fitness with her team Fenix-Deceuninck supporting her by allowing her to compete with the team in 2023, after signing last year. The words of Frost in his poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening have been used by Cotter as a way of motivating herself to rebound from …

Burren Cycling Club’s Paul Kennedy has described his second placed finish at the UCI World Time Trial Championships the best result of his career. Kennedy stated he was hoping for a top five finish with 46 competitors competing in the division with the Championships held in Italy. Kennedy secured silver in the 40-44 age category as he admits that after visiting the course five times in the lead-up to the event, he was surprised by alterations made to the layout prior to the commencement of the competition. “It was a strange Time Trial. I drove it five times the day before we competed. The organisers closed off the opposite side of the road than what I had expected so we had to drive the other side of the road. I expected to be going around the long side, but it was the same for everyone I imagine. I just had to get used to it as it went on.” After …

As Imogen Cotter talks to The Clare Champion from sunny Spain, the Ruan cyclist should be in the midst of a seminal year of her career. The struggle and the sacrifices for her to earn a professional contract were rewarded when Belgian based team Plantur Pura asked the 29-year-old to compete for them this year after a rapid upturn in the Clare cyclist’s form towards the latter half of 2021. Cotter should be living the dream. Although the Ruan woman tries to maintain a positive attitude, it is fair to say that the past few months have saw her endure her fair share of nightmares. As she was warming to the task of riding professionally for the first time in her career, a routine cycle around the Catalonian region almost saw her lose her life. A van overtook another cyclist on the opposite side of the road and collided head on with her. The Clare cyclist suffered a broken radius, …

CLARE’S Imogen Cotter will be completing arguably her greatest test of endurance this Saturday when the talented cyclists completed a 340km cycle in Spain, writes Ivan Smyth. Cotter, from Ruan, will aim to complete the Pirinexus Challenge as she will start her cycle in Girona with the route taking her through the Pyrenees. This is a unique event in the cycling calendar with participants given 18 hours to complete the cycle as they start at dawn and have until midnight to negotiate this difficult course. The Clare cyclist is under no illusions as to the size of the task she faces. “I have never done a challenge like this. I will be travelling on road, gravel paths and even up mountains. It is a huge challenge. I’m tripling the distance that I usually race. I have to be self sufficient on the day so if I get a puncture, I have to deal with that myself.” Cotter enters this race …