“THE HEAT IS ON!” Para-Cycling World Championships to be met by Alabama heat and humidity

HUNTSVILLE – To borrow the title from the 1985 hit song from the late Glenn Fry, “The Heat Is On!”

That was the majority of the topics stirred within race organizers and athletes this week in preparation for the 2026 Para-Cycling Road World Championships this weekend in Huntsville’s Cummings Research Park. With temperatures in the mid and high 90’s and in some cases 100-plus degrees on the roadways of the race course plus high humidity readings making heat index readings well over 100 degrees, almost 350 athletes from 48 countries, including as far away as the Far East and Australia, will face the brutal weather of Alabama for the chance to win one of the coveted rainbow jerseys, which will be awarded in 53 race events for first place, along with over 150 of the standard gold, silver and bronze medals.

Heat acclamation is one of the most important aspects of what the athletes are having to endure. Clara Brown, a C3 Cyclist from Maine and member of Team USA as a four-time World Champion said, “It’s certainly cooler where I’m from, so my training this summer has included a lot of time on the bike and then I jump in the sauna. I really hope this has prepared my body for this testing heat.”

Tandem cyclists Linda Kelly and Katie-George Dunlevy of Ireland certainly have their work cut out for them in dealing with the early September heat. Dunlevy said “Trying to make training to be similar to the course location is always difficult for us and challenging at times, but we certainly will do our best.” Kelly, who is the able-body member of the tandem team added, “Of course in Ireland where it seems to rain a lot, we’ve been trying to train with the heat in mind as we were here in 2023 and won both events we were in, but since arriving we’ve been getting exposed to the heat in our training.”

Ryan Pinney a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force is set for this action in the hand cyclists competition this weekend is proud to be among some of the best athletes in the world, but even prouder to wear the red, white and blue of his country.

“I love America,” Pinney stated. “Being able to represent U.S.A. in a different way in this event and being a Veteran I just want to show my profound love of all the vets out there and my country and put on the Stars and Stripes in a different way is still so exhilarating for me and allows me to represent something that is much bigger than myself. I love my country so much and to do it here in Huntsville with so many great familiar people around.”

Race officials want to express the athletes will be on nearby roads training and during race days Explorer Blvd. in Cummings Research Park will be closed to traffic. For those wishing to attend the event, there is no admission, the event is free to spectators who are urged to attend, bring chairs and coolers and plenty of noise makers as the race athletes love to hearing the cheering crowd showing support of their efforts.

Participants are navigating the course in different types of cycles, including bicycles, tall tricycles, hand cycles and tandem cycles. Some of the participants are guiding low-to-the-ground cycles and are difficult to see. Race officials urge traffic to be aware of those athletes. During races, the men’s tandem event will see cyclists racing up to 40-miles per hour while the women’s tandem racers will hit 25-miles per hour on the roads of the Rocket City.

Details on the event are available at www.huntsvilleparaworlds.com.

This weekend the heat will be on, especially on the roads of Cummings Research Park.