Two Westmeath athletes go for gold in London
Games broadcast live and Free to Air for the first time ever on Setanta Sports in association with Allianz.After the success of the 2012 London Olympic Games the Irish Paralympic Team, consisting of 49 athletes representing 20 counties, is now in the final stages of preparation in advance of the Paralympic Games starting on August 29.For the first time in history the games will be broadcast live and free to air by Setanta Sports in association with Allianz, which means that fans can catch all of the action and support our Irish Paralympic team in their quest for medals. Coverage is available on UPC channel 105 and Sky channel 423.Two members of the Irish Team are from Westmeath - reigning world champion Mark Rohan from Ballinahown competes in road race and time trial handcycling events and Damien Shaw from Mullingar is a pilot in tandem cycling events with team mate James Brown.The coverage on the Setanta Ireland channel on satellite will be unencrypted so that all viewers in Sky homes will have free access to the channel whether they are a Setanta subscriber or not. This combined with the Setanta Ireland channel being free on UPC and the Setanta player being available in all eircom broadband homes means that approximately 1.3 million households will be able to view the games.Allianz is an International Partner to the London 2012 Paralympic Games and partner to Paralympics Ireland.Information on Westmeath Paralympians:Mark RohanSetanta Promo -
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Mark played football for Westmeath at U21 level before he was paralysed in a road accident in 2001. Mark then represented Ireland at wheelchair basketball from 2005 to 2009 before he chose to focus on handcycling. Since his first gold at the World Handcycling Championships in 2010, Mark has consistently been top of the pile.He won the 2011 UCI World Paracycling Cup, 2011 UCI World Paracycling Championships (Time Trial and Road) and the UCI World Paracycling Cup (Time Trial) in 2012. As one of Ireland's current world champions, Mark will be hoping to carry on his impressive form and make a major impact at London 2012.Damien ShawDamien was a talented runner, representing Ireland in cross country at U19 level before taking up cycling in 2010. He now rides as sighted pilot for James Brown and the pair have progressed well since teaming up.Together they earned an 11th place finish in the UCI World Road Cup in Rome in May. They will hope to carry their form into London 2012, which will be Damien's first Paralympic Games.REIGNING IRISH PARALYMPIC CHAMPIONSJason Smyth: T13 100m & 200mMichael McKillop : T37 800mCURRENT IRISH WORLD CHAMPIONSMichael McKillop: T37 800m & 1500mCatherine O'Neill: F51 DiscusMark Rohan: H1 Time Trial & Road RaceCatherine Walsh & Fran Meehan: 3km Female Tandem PursuitColin Lynch: C2 Road Time Trial