Kathleen Lynch was born on 23 April 1957 and is a retired competitive cyclist from New Zealand who competed both on and off the road.
56 Facts About Kathy Lynch
1.
2.
Kathy Lynch 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.
3.
Kathy Lynch 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.
4.
Harris and Kathy Lynch finished in fourth and ninth places respectively.
5.
In September 1990, Kathy Lynch competed at the inaugural UCI Mountain Bike World Championships and finished tenth.
6.
Kathy Lynch competed in road races and time trials, and off-road in cross country, in several world championships.
7.
Kathy Lynch was not selected for the New Zealand road cycling team for the 1992 Olympics.
8.
Kathy Lynch believed that omitting her was a mistake and intended to prove it by doing well at that year's Tour de France Feminin.
9.
Kathy Lynch placed sixth in that race and demonstrated her good form.
10.
When it was announced in 1994 that mountain biking was to become an Olympic discipline, Kathy Lynch's focus turned to being picked for the New Zealand team.
11.
Kathy Lynch became New Zealand's first representative in an Olympic mountain biking event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
12.
Kathy Lynch retired from serious competition after the Olympics, with the exception of the first UCI World Cup in April 1997 that was held in New Zealand.
13.
Kathy Lynch was born in 1957 in Hawera, Taranaki and grew up in that town.
14.
Kathy Lynch represented New Zealand in netball early in her life.
15.
Kathy Lynch took up canoeing and in 1987 won the New Zealand White Water Downriver and Slalom Championships.
16.
Kathy Lynch's biographer, Simon Kennett, considered that she had purchased a bike with rather poor brakes and after weeks of crashing, Lynch thought mountain biking was a "dumb sport".
17.
Fellow Motueka resident Karen Holliday encouraged Kathy Lynch to take up road cycling instead.
18.
Kathy Lynch was laughed at when she turned up to her first race wearing coloured socks, when the convention was to race in white socks.
19.
In 1988, Kathy Lynch competed in the inaugural season of the Canoe Slalom World Cup, and placed 19th in the overall standings in the K1 class.
20.
Kathy Lynch tried triathlons and came fourth in the 1989 Nelson Women's Triathlon, but did not continue with that event.
21.
Kathy Lynch then borrowed a quality mountain bike and won the third race of the national series that was held in Queenstown with an impressive 11-minute margin.
22.
Kathy Lynch entered the last race of the national series as the clear favourite.
23.
Kathy Lynch had never raced in mud before and her time was 79 minutes slower than the winning elite man, but she was still 52 minutes ahead of the second-placed woman.
24.
Kathy Lynch finished half a length after Madonna Harris, which secured her a place in the New Zealand team.
25.
Kathy Lynch was assigned as Harris' domestique and did a good job at the Games by covering the breakaways well.
26.
Kathy Lynch was in top form, won the remaining four national series races, and retained her title.
27.
Kathy Lynch took a couple of Aspirin, unaware that she was allergic to the drug.
28.
Just before the UCI World Championship race, Kathy Lynch needed hospital treatment for internal bleeding caused by her pain medication.
29.
Kathy Lynch still competed, coming a "disappointing" tenth place in the cross country race after having hoped for a higher finish.
30.
Kathy Lynch had no option but to take the medication if she wanted to remain in the race, and promptly ended up in Wellington Hospital from the reaction to the medication.
31.
Kathy Lynch won the Coast to Coast a record five times, the national mountain bike series every year until aged 40, and the Karapoti Classic all eight times that she started.
32.
In 1994, after being pushed by Susan DeMattei through the whole race, Kathy Lynch set a new race record at the Karapoti Classic that stood for 13 years.
33.
Kathy Lynch spent several weeks in Europe, racing road and cross country World Cup events in preparation for the 1991 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships.
34.
Kathy Lynch entered in the Veteran category and came second, beaten by road racing legend Jeannie Longo.
35.
Back in New Zealand, Kathy Lynch did well in the premier women's road stage race in 1991 and 1992, and won bronze in the 1991 New Zealand National Road Race Championships, yet was not picked for the 1992 Olympic road cycling team.
36.
Kathy Lynch's biographer speculates that the selectors were possibly influenced in their decision by Lynch's failure to get Harris into a medal position at the 1990 Commonwealth Games.
37.
Kathy Lynch set the tone for the team by coming fourth in the prologue in Paris.
38.
Jacqui Nelson and Kathy Lynch were the only New Zealanders remaining in the final stage, and Kathy Lynch came sixth ascending into Alpe d'Huez.
39.
Kathy Lynch's biographer suggests that she made her point that her omission from the 1992 Olympic team had been a mistake.
40.
Kathy Lynch then entered the veteran category of the 1992 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Bromont, Canada, winning bronze in both the cross country and the downhill events.
41.
Kathy Lynch had her usual domestic success in 1993, including a new record time in the Coast to Coast.
42.
Kathy Lynch's focus sharpened in early 1994 when it was announced that mountain biking would be an Olympic event at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
43.
Rather than go for another veteran's medal, Kathy Lynch entered the Pro race at the 1995 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Kirchzarten in Germany's Black Forest.
44.
Kathy Lynch had a fierce start of the cross country race and led the field into the first climb.
45.
One by one, younger and full-time professional cyclists went past her, and Kathy Lynch ended up 21st, with Mary Grigson 33rd, and the other Kiwis further back.
46.
Kathy Lynch generally downplays her achievements, instead arguing that other people lead "lazy lifestyles".
47.
Two months prior to the Olympics, Kathy Lynch went to North America and competed in World Cup races in Canada and the United States.
48.
Kathy Lynch then competed in the 1996 pre-Olympic cycle tour, winning one of the stages.
49.
Kathy Lynch moved out and shared accommodation with Jacqui Nelson in a suburb.
50.
Kathy Lynch ignored this and promptly ran into an American army unit looking for bombs and was arrested.
51.
Kathy Lynch settled into fifth place in the first lap, but crashed on one of the corners.
52.
Kathy Lynch finished 8th, with two previous world champions behind her.
53.
Kathy Lynch saw the Olympics as a perfect time to retire from the serious competitions.
54.
Kathy Lynch did not go to the 1996 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Cairns, Australia, but competed in the Southern Traverse Adventure Race instead.
55.
In 1998, Kathy Lynch came second to Susy Pryde in the first three races of the national series, and then pulled out of the competition.
56.
Kathy Lynch moved to near Hokitika in the early 2000s and worked in farming, including clearing 20 hectares of gorse from some farmland.