Tarja Owens, from Delgany, County Wicklow, [1] Ireland), is an Irish former competitive mountain biker and road racer, who competed in the Sydney Olympic Games of 2000 [2] and later became the first female professional Irish cyclist.
Owens comes from Delgany, near Greystones, Co. Wicklow. Her uncle, Peter Doyle, was an active international competitive cyclist. [1]
She was Irish Ladies mountain biking champion six times, [1] and rode in a range of national and international MTB and road races, including stage events and the World Championships. She was then selected to ride at the Sydney Olympic Games, [1] with funding of 3000 euro a year from the Sports Council and earnings as a gym instructor.
After the 2000 Olympics, Owens decided to pursue a professional road racing career, and moved from the Helly Hansen team to accept an offer from the Michaela Fanini team for the 2001 season, making her Ireland's first professional female cyclist [1] (one or two cyclists had earlier been offered posts but had remained amateur). She was coached by Martin Earley, [1] and stayed with the team for 18 months, being selected to ride in the Giro d'Italia in her first year. [1]
With her then partner Robin Seymour, [1] Ireland's top-ranked mountain biker, Owens competed in, and won, the mixed category of the seven-day 2005 TransRockies Challenge. [3]
Owens started a mountain bike touring business in northern Italy with her partner Niall Davis in 2010. They later opened biking.ie, a business operating mountain bike events at Ticknock in south Dublin and near Roundwood in Wicklow. They married in 2017, and have two children.[ citation needed ]
Owens qualified as an osteopath in 2012 and is owner and lead operator of Roundwood Osteopathy and Sports Clinic.[ citation needed ]
Greystones is a coastal town and seaside resort in County Wicklow, Ireland. It lies on Ireland's east coast, 3.5 km (2.2 mi) south of Bray and 24 km (15 mi) south of Dublin city centre and has a population of 18,140 (2016). The town is bordered by the Irish Sea to the east, Bray Head to the north and the Wicklow Mountains to the west. It is the second biggest town in County Wicklow.
British Cycling is the main national governing body for cycle sport in Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It represents Britain at the world body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and selects national teams, including the Great Britain (GB) Cycling Team for races in Britain and abroad. As of 2020, it has a total membership of 165,000.
Rebecca Twigg is an American former racing cyclist.
A cyclosportive, or often simply sportive, is a short to long distance, organised, mass-participation cycling event, typically held annually. The Italian term Gran Fondo is commonly used for these events in the United States, Australia and some other English-speaking countries.
Anne-Caroline Chausson is a French professional cyclist who competes in bicycle enduro, bicycle motocross (BMX), downhill time trial and cross-country mass start, dual, and four-cross mountain bicycle racing. She is best known for having won thirteen Union Cycliste Internationale senior mountain bike world championship rainbow jerseys, fourteen European mountain bike championships, and five consecutive Mountain Bike World Cup downhill series (1998-2002). She was nominated for the 2003 Laureus World Sports Awards Alternative Sportsperson of the Year. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Chausson competed for France in the inaugural women's BMX event, winning the gold medal.
Marianne Vos is a Dutch multi-discipline cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam Team Jumbo–Visma.
Delgany is a small rural village in County Wicklow in Ireland, located on the R762 road which connects to the N11 road at the Glen of the Downs.
The R755 road is a regional road in Ireland. It runs for its entire length in County Wicklow. From the village of Kilmacanogue on the N11 national primary road it goes north/south for 36 km (22 mi) to the town of Rathdrum.
Martin Earley is an Irish former professional road bicycle racer, who competed in the 1984 and 1996 Olympic Games.
Andreas Hestler is a Canadian professional racing cyclist. Hestler finished 31st in the Men's Mountain Bike Race at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Hestler currently rides for Rocky Mountain Bicycles.
Robin Seymour is an Irish professional and three-time Olympic cross-country mountain bike and cyclo cross racer who rides for the WORC team. Seymour is a former motorbike racer who turned to cycling. Seymour has dominated mountain biking and cyclo-cross in Ireland and has been Irish mountain bike champion a total of 20 times, including 15 times consecutively between 1993 and 2008 and 18 times the Irish cyclo-cross champion.
Sharon Laws was a British professional cyclist and environmental consultant.
Yvonne McGregor MBE is a female English former professional cyclist from Wibsey. She was made an MBE, for services to cycling, in the 2002 New Year Honours.
Boardman Bikes, Ltd. is a British bicycle manufacturer, founded by the professional cyclist Chris Boardman, Sarah Mooney and Alan Ingarfield, and launched in the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2007. Ingarfield is the Chairman of the company, Mooney is the CEO and Boardman heads Research & Development alongside the special projects program B56.
Robyn de Groot, born 26 December 1982, is a South African cyclist. She cycled professionally on the road from 2006 to 2012. Representing South Africa for 6 consecutive years, she represented South Africa at 4 World Championships, the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India and the 2012 London Summer Olympics. She was unable to finish within the time limit due to an early crash and mechanical problems.
Tereza Huříková is a Czech professional road cyclist and mountain biker. Throughout her sporting career, she has won numerous Czech national championship titles in women's cross-country, road races and time trial, and more importantly, a prestigious gold medal in the junior time trial at the 2004 UCI World Championships. Huříková later represented the Czech Republic, as a 20-year-old junior, at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and also rode for USC Chirio Forno d'Asolo and Česká Spořitelna MTB Cycling Teams since she turned professional in 2006. Currently, Huříková trains and races under an exclusive, two-year sponsorship contract for Germany's Central Haibike Pro Team, along with her teammate and 2008 Olympic champion Sabine Spitz.
Michael Richard Hall was a British cyclist and race organiser who specialised in self-supported ultra-distance cycling races. In 2012, he won the inaugural World Cycle Race. In 2013 and 2016, he won the Tour Divide ultra-endurance mountain bike race across the Rocky Mountains in Canada and the United States. In 2014, he won the inaugural Trans Am Bike Race, a road-based event from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast in the United States. From 2013, he was the principal organiser of the Transcontinental Race, an event similar to the TransAm Bicycle Race, but that traverses Europe. Michael Hall was also featured in the cycling film Inspired to Ride a film directed by Mike Dion.
Kathleen "Kathy" Lynch is a retired competitive cyclist from New Zealand who competed both on and off the road. With a talent for multiple sports disciplines, she won the canoeing events New Zealand White Water Downriver and Slalom Championships in 1987 and represented her country at the 1988 Canoe Slalom World Cup. Around the same time, she was also a successful triathlete, but did not continue with that sport. She bought her first mountain bike in 1988 at the age of 31 in order to compete in an adventure sport event, and within a year she had become the New Zealand national cross country champion. Around the same time, she also took up road cycling. She was included in the New Zealand team for the 1990 Commonwealth Games and was assigned as domestique for the top New Zealand road rider, Madonna Harris. Harris and Lynch finished in fourth and ninth places respectively. In September 1990, Lynch competed at the inaugural UCI Mountain Bike World Championships and finished tenth. In November 1990, she became a household name in New Zealand by winning a 22-day multi-sport race the length of the country that had prime time TV coverage every night.
Carly Hibberd was an Australian professional road racing cyclist who competed in Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)-sanctioned races. She won the 2008 Australian National Criterium Championships and was second in that year's Tour de Perth. Aged six, Hibberd took up BMX before moving onto mountain biking and then road cycling.through a talent identification scheme. She began riding competitive events in 2004 and went on to compete in several women's events organised by the UCI. Hibberd was hit off her bike by a road car while training in Northern Italy and died from her injuries. A memorial trophy and park in Toowoomba are named after her.
Cycling in Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is a popular means of transportation, sporting and recreational pass time. Commuting in the city is supported by an extensive network of urban cycleways and on-street bicycle lanes. As a city established in the 20th century, Canberra's development was heavily influenced by the automobile for much of its history. The popularity of cycling in the city has increased dramatically in the 21st century with growing awareness of environmental issues, government policy supporting active transport and investment in cycling infrastructure. This has led to the development of a strong cycling culture.