Castlebar
Cycling Club 1980
Cycling - The Ultimate Resilience
Cycling demands incredible
resilience and durability from its participants. No question is
left unanswered. In a single race, a cyclist may contemplate quitting
a dozen times, or more. But it is not in his nature to retire.
He is conditioned to dig even deeper, to postpone self doubt still
further, to plough on when all seems lost.
As a professional sport,
it has suffered from negative publicity of recent years. The revelation
of widespread drug usage has rocked the sport to its core.
Those who love the sport
have been asked to display their love in very trying circumstances.
Those who remain in the sport do so because they believe in it,
they subsribe to its ideals of a healthy lifestyle, a rigid physical
fitness programme and an accompanying mental fitness programme.
Here in Castlebar,
cycling has long enjoyed a noble tradition. The first known Cycling
Club was formed in the town in the late 1930's.
People like Thomas Brett, Andy Redmond, Denis Syron, Tom McHale,
W Munnelly and Seamus and Tom Reilly were the key men of the era.
They have all since passed on to their eternal reward but their
legacy has been immense.
They raced around St. Mary's
track and also in fields, towns and villages all over Mayo and
Connaught. This club survived untill the early 1950's.
In 1953,
St. Mary's Cycling Club was formed.
Their first massed start race was from Castlebar to Ballinrobe
and 34 riders took part. They even had their own club rooms. Tom
McHale (R.I.P.) and Michael Kilcourse were the movers and shakers
- they brought a stage of the Ras Tailteann to Castlebar in 1955.
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All-Ireland
Champion Seamus Neary was the first Castlebar cyclist to ride
in the Ras Tailteann, completing the gruelling event in 1960 and
1961. In the mid 1960's, the club was renamed the John
Moore Road Club. By 1975, interest in cycling in Castlebar
had declined. The men of 1953 and onwards were slipping into retirement.
Replacements were not coming on stream.
Thus
in the Autumn of 1977, Mick Kilcourse, Seamus Neary and Tom McHale
started up another club in Castlebar, namely Castlebar
Wheelers. There was an exposion of interest. Over 50 members
joined up straightaway and for the next 12 years it was perhaps
the leading Cycling Club in all of Ireland.
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All ages cycled, from Under
12 up to Veterans including males and females. It was the era
of Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche, glorious Irish sporting days
and the ripples spread to Castlebar.
There were national wins
for Kiernan Kilkenny, Michael Ruane, Paul Kilcourse and Kevin
Dunleavy. Paul and Michael rode for Ireland. Salad days in the
saddle. In the late 1980's there came another slump. But this
trend has been halted. Castlebar Cycling Club has arrived to take
up the slack - but the names and faces are familiar.
Castlebar Cycling Club caters
for cyclists of all shapes and hues - the casual cyclist who just
loves the feel of fresh air and the sounds of the country side
right up to the ultra-competitive cyclist who wishes to compete
with the best in the country.
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Cycling
Club History