Paralympic Games 2008 Countdown: Clifford Coonanmeets Irish athletes and officials visiting Beijing in early preparation for next year's games

The sign by the motorway says it's 33 degrees in the shade, punishing heat for an athlete to compete in and one of the primary reasons the Irish Paralympic squad is in Beijing one year ahead of the 2008 games to help them acclimatise.

Posing for a photograph outside the Loong Palace, a plush hotel in Changping district, Pádraic Moran, a 23-year-old boccia player from Bray, says spending 10 days living and training here has been a big help: "The pollution is not as bad as it was made out to be. The hotel is great, as is the training venue. The gym is a bit hot but it's good acclimatisation because of the heat."

Moran is part of a 67-strong group of athletes with disabilities and staff here to experience the conditions for the games, which run next year from September 6th to 17th, two weeks after the Olympics end.

Five sports - athletics, football, equestrian, boccia and swimming - are represented at the camp. The cyclists were here earlier this year.

"The weather is the exact same as it's going to be next year, which is what we want," says team official Liam Harbison. "We're here to acclimatise and also so the team can get to know each other. This week has seen a lot of team-building."

It's taken two years to organise the camp, he says, with funding from the Irish Sports Council and PCI partners. Amazing China Tours helped them traverse the bureaucracy.

The main differences between the Paralympics and the Special Olympics lie in the disabilities and skills of athletes. The Paralympics involve competitors with physical and sensory disabilities; the Special Olympics are for those with learning disabilities. Shanghai will host the Special Olympics next month.

"Playing boccia is great as I never thought I'd get an opportunity to represent Ireland like this," says Moran. "The volunteers have learnt quickly with boccia, which is a sport many had never heard of before."

Boccia has similarities with petanque or French boules - the aim is to propel coloured balls closer to a white marker ball, the jack, than those of your opponent.

Portugal are the team to beat.

"Portugal have beaten us twice, we owe them one. The gap is closing between them and us," says Moran, who is training to be a radio reporter and works for East Coast FM.

Bruce Wardrop, team physiologist, says four areas the staff have been monitoring are heat, humidity, pollution and jet lag.

"People are aware the conditions are going to be tough. We're looking to see how the guys respond to the heat. They take a temperature sensor that you swallow, which allows us to measure their internal temperature," says Wardrop.

Garrett Culliton (37), from Clonaslee, Co Laois, is a discus thrower and says because of the structure of the Paralympics and the grading of athletes, it's difficult to tell what his chances are.

"I'm hoping for a medal," says Culliton, who is unable to sweat freely and so suffers more than most in the heat; he wears a cooling jacket and has ice sprayed on his body during competition.

Pollution here hasn't been as bad as expected and the athletes are full of praise for the volunteers and interpreters.

"There's five or six down at the track who unload your gear for you . . . open your water bottle . . . they're nearly ready to throw the discus for you," jokes Culliton.

A big question is whether the crowds will come to watch the Paralympics.

"We'll be interested to see what emphasis they put on the Paralympics. In Barcelona the stadiums were full. Atlanta and Athens were poor," says Culliton.

The chef de mission, Jimmy Byrne, who has been involved since Montreal in 1976, says it's important to get the athletes used to the local culture so that next year they can focus on performance.

The Irish panel in Beijing includes a world champion and world-record holder over 100 metres and 200 metres, Jason Smyth; Paralympic medallists David Malone, John McCarthy and Derek Malone; a world-record holder at 800 metres, Michael McKillop; and a recent equestrian international silver medallist, Eilish Byrne.

While Ireland will hope to win medals, China itself, which has 80 million with disabilities, will enter a huge team and can be expected to do well.

The Irish soccer team have been practising on a pitch in the agricultural college, says Aidan Brennan (29), from Lucan, Co Dublin.They play seven-a-side on a pitch slightly smaller than regulation and with no offside, which makes for an expansive game. The footballers are in with a good chance to qualify in Rio in November.

"We'll be there or thereabouts come next year," says Brennan. "The levels are quite high, and there's no mercy shown at the Paralympics - just keep banging them in."

Brennan jogs off to take on a team of local expatriates - two Russians, two Englishmen, a Scot and two Irishmen, including Kerrygold's man in China, Karl Long.

For the record, the Paralympians indeed show no mercy, beating the locals 8-3.