Seamus McGrath

Seamus McGrath
Personal information
Full name Seamus Patrick McGrath
Born March 5, 1976
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)
Weight 62 kg (137 lb)
Team information
Current team Retired
Discipline Mountain biking
Role Rider
Rider type Cross-country
Professional team(s)
1998 Haro MTB Team
2000–2002 Haro-Lee Dungaree
2007–2008 Rocky Mountain-Haywood
Infobox last updated on
October 26, 2013

Seamus Patrick McGrath (born March 5, 1976 in Mississauga, Ontario) is a retired Canadian professional mountain biker.[1] Riding the sport for more than 15 years as a member of the Canadian national team, McGrath has won two medals in mountain biking at the Commonwealth Games (2002 and 2006), and later represented his nation Canada in two editions of the Olympic Games (2004 and 2008). Before retiring to focus on and organize the annual Tour de Victoria race in late 2008, McGrath also trained and raced professionally for Haro-Lee Dungaree and Fuji Bikes under an exclusive sponsorship contract.[2][3]

McGrath made his official debut at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, where he joined his teammate Roland Green to take the silver medal and climb on top of the podium for Canada with a spectacular 1–2 finish.[4]

When he first competed for Canada at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, McGrath scored a career-high, ninth place in the men's cross-country race with a time of 2:20:33, finishing just off the podium by a three-minute gap.[5][6] Two years later, McGrath continued to set another sterling record by picking up the bronze in the same tournament (2:13:43) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, trailing behind the British duo Liam Killeen and Oliver Beckingsale within a short riding distance.[7][8]

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, McGrath qualified for his second Canadian squad, as a 32-year-old senior, in the men's cross-country race by receiving one of the nation's three available berths from the Canadian Cycling Association and the International Cycling Union, based on his best performance at the World Cup series, World Championships, and Mountain Biking World Series.[9] McGrath could not match a stellar performance from Athens, as he suffered a tyre puncture and then had to ride the rim all the way around the tech zone in order to replace the flat tyre. Realizing that his new wheel contained a slow leak at the designated site, McGrath decided to end his course with only three laps left and a forty-fourth-place finish.[10][11][12]

References

  1. ↑ "Seamus McGrath". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  2. ↑ "Tour organizers were inspiring". Times Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia: Canada.com). 25 September 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  3. ↑ "Seamus McGrath Signs with Fuji". Velo News. 11 March 2008. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  4. ↑ Leggat, David (31 July 2002). "Mountainbiking: Crash, bang and a silver". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  5. ↑ "Cycling: Men's Cross-Country Race". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  6. ↑ "Islander Kabush gets his ticket to Beijing Games". Times Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia: Canada.com). 28 June 2008. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  7. ↑ Majendie, Matt (23 March 2006). "Killeen secures gold for England". Melbourne: BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  8. ↑ Chong, Jordan (23 March 2006). "England wins by a country mile". The Age. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  9. ↑ "Four cyclists named Olympic nominees". The Calgary Herald (Calgary, Alberta: Canada.com). 28 June 2008. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  10. ↑ "Men's Cross-Country Race". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  11. ↑ ""Unbeatable" Absalon wins his second gold". Agence France-Presse (Velo News). 22 August 2008. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  12. ↑ Jones, Rob (23 August 2008). "French dominate the rest of the World". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 29 October 2013.

External links