Seamus Mcgrath

Biography

Seamus Patrick McGrath (born March 5, 1976, in Mississauga, Ontario) is a retired Canadian professional mountain biker. 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. Growing up in Flamborough, Ontario, 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. 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. 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. 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 Union Cycliste Internationale, based on his best performance at the World Cup series, World Championships, and Mountain Biking World Series. 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 d

Bio from Wikipedia