Cycling success in tandem

Profile of Crawley’s Paralympian Katie-George Dunlevy

Katie-George Dunlevy is a Paralympic athlete who has competed in events such as the mixed 4+ LTA Rowing and tandem cycling, the latter where she has experienced huge success representing Ireland at both the World Championships and the Olympics. 

Born in Crawley on 26 November 1981, Katie-George is one of six sisters brought up in Gossops Green who went to school at both Copthorne Convent and Holy Cross in Ifield, but remembers she struggled with ball sports during her formative years. Unbeknown to her, she had a problem with her peripheral vision which meant while other kids were charging around, Katie would be missing the ball and running into the other kids instead. 

Upon visiting the opticians, there was concern that Katie had an eye condition and, after visiting Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, it was confirmed she had a degenerative eye condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa. Essentially, this means she has tunnel vision and no peripheral vision at all. Additionally, this means a longer time for her eyesight to readjust when she goes from bright light into a dark room and vice versa. It’s a slow process of degeneration which will eventually lead to blindness and hence why she is officially blind.

After getting used to accepting her condition following her arrival into the Royal London Society for the Blind School in Sevenoaks, Katie became involved in a variety of sports and activities competing in the National School’s competitions at swimming and athletics and even winning a bronze medal in the 400m when she was seventeen at the Blind Sports Associations European Athletics Championships. 

The following year, she was contacted by the Great Britain para-rowing team and became one of the first athletes to represent them, where she succeeded in winning Gold in 2004 and 2005. However, multiple rib injuries kept her out of the boat for a number of years which only served to affect her confidence and motivation. Then, in 2010, after realising she was eligible to play for Ireland, because her father is from County Donegal, she ended up training for the Olympics but unfortunately missed out on selection.

However, things took a turn for the better when the Irish para-cycling coach gave her a trial in August 2011, and she never looked back. She took to tandem cycling very quickly however the London Olympics proved to early for a medal, but Dunlevy reflects that it was really an event to gain exposure and experience.

In 2014, Katie teamed up with Eve McCrystal and, in their first road race, the pair instantly hit it off and won their first World Championship Silver medal. The following year the pair won Bronze in the 3k pursuit at the UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships in the Netherlands.

At Rio in 2016, Dunlevy won a gold medal at the time trial B event and silver in the road race at the 2016 Summer Paralympics with pilot Eve McCrystal. However, the time trial remains her proudest moment and 

she recalls: “I was so happy and elated but I was in so much pain as well having given everything…we fell to the floor completely exhausted and, when I realised we’d won Gold, I just screamed”

Katie became double World Champion at the UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships in September 2017 and the following year she retained both titles becoming double World Champion again with McCrystal. In the same year, she won Bronze in the 3k pursuit at the UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships. In 2019 she won Gold in the time trial at the UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships to become world champion for the third time and won Silver in the road race. 

In January 2020 Dunlevy and McCrystal won Silver at the UCI Para-Cycling track World Championships in both the time trial and road race, and then last year the pair won a silver medal at the delayed 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo in the individual pursuit event. 

A few days later, they retained their title from Rio in the time trial, winning Gold whilst also winning Gold in the road race to become the most successful Irish female Paralympian.

In 2021, Katie was named the Active Sussex Sports Personality of the Year having been selected for ‘displaying and outstanding level of achievement competing at the highest level’.