Homecoming celebrations for Killurin's Fran Meehan

Offaly's Paralympic Games double medal winner Fran Meehan admitted this week she was afraid that knowing family members were in the crowd cheering her on would distract her from winning races at the London 2012 Games. Speaking to the Offaly Independent this week from her home in Killurin, Fran said racing as a sighted pilot with stoker Catherine Walsh from Swords in the Paralympic Games was also her first taste of racing in front of sizeable crowds. Fran celebrated her birthday with a glass of champagne the day Team Ireland travelled to Portugal for a training camp prior to the London Games last month. Between then and any celebratory glasses of champagne came a whole lot of hard work, resulting in silver and bronze medal winning performances by the Killurin cyclist. Team Ireland arrived back from the Paralympic Games to Dublin airport last Monday night. The 49 strong team came away from the Games with an unprecedented medal haul of eight golds, three silvers and five bronze medals. During their time at the Games the Irish team set three world records, seven Paralympic records and 17 national Irish records. Twenty members also recorded personal best times at the Games. Overall the team finished 19th in the medal table out of 166 counties, a massive 17 places higher than four years previously in Beijing. Fran and stoker Catherine had hoped to get their hands on three medals, but Fran admitted medals in pursuit and time trial events couldn't be sneezed at. Fran, who was introduced to cycling by Seamus Buckley of Buckley's Cycles in Tullamore, said the period leading up to the Games was tough. "The lead up to it was fairly hard work, but that's kind of normal at that level of sport," she said. The team's training camp in Portugal saw Fran and Catherine put in four hours on their bike every day. Arriving at the Olympic athletes' village in London for the Games themselves was "unreal" Fran said. Fran did meet up with her mother Helen and partner Brendan for an hour when they visited, but Fran said knowing she had personal support in the crowd was at times a worry for her. "I was nervous it might distract me," she explained. "I waved up to them and acknowledged they were there, but when I started to warm up I didn't recognise anyone in the crowd." The Games were also Fran's first experience of racing in front of a crowd. "I would have never competed in front of more than maybe 200 people before," she said. "I approached it with the attitude that I can either let these people get to me or I can embrace it and enjoy it, and that's what I did." Fran and Catherine certainly did embrace the crowd, and didn't let anything distract them from their job. Fran said three medals - her own personal goal for the Games - would have been "the icing on the cake". "But it doesn't matter because I walked away from the bike on the four occasions knowing that I had given it 100 per cent," she said after. "It didn't matter what colour the medal was, or even if we didn't win a medal, I knew I did the best I could." Fran was welcomed home at an official homecoming in Killurin GAA Centre on Tuesday night last. "It was lovely," Fran, who lives less than a mile from the centre, said. "I went out to the top of the lane and there were loads of banners and flags and bunting." With family and friends waiting for her, Fran was led to the GAA hall by a piper flanked by a full guard of honour. Once in the centre she was presented with flowers before speeches made way for celebrations including music, singing and refreshments. "It was a real community event," Fran said. Mindful of her roots, Fran said she's grateful for all the local support over the past number of years that allowed her to compete in the Games. This appreciation extended to local businesses and her stoker Catherine as well as those closer to home. "I couldn't have done it without my Mam and Brendan," she explained. She said she was also surprised and hugely appreciative of local support. "I couldn't believe the number of local people coming up to me and saying 'You did great, you put Killurin on the map'," she said. "It was fantastic to see that sort of spirit." Fran appears tonight on RTÉ's Late Late Show alongside Ireland's other medal winners. There were also celebrations on Tuesday night in nearby Ballinahown for double gold medalist Mark Rohan. Hand cyclist Mark won his medals in a time trial event and a road race, in which he beat his nearest competitor by two seconds. He was overwhelmed on Tuesday evening by the thousands who turned out to support him and bronze medalist Damien Shaw at the homecoming celebrations. The atmosphere was electric in the village as the Athlone Pipe Band led Mark and Damien from the national school to a stage in the centre of the village and the cheers of the crowd were so loud that they almost drowned out the music of the pipe band!