A short coverage of the trip by Niall Diamond

Well we all made it back from Cork in one piece !

We had a great trip, weather was a bit damp on Friday morning, but cleared up early on and we had great sunshine and mostly tailwind for the rest of the trip. Arrived in the Vienna Woods Hotel in Cork around 7.15 Thursday evening, had a quick dinner (well actually a slow dinner), followed by a Lecture/Meeting with the boss, Jim Tuohy. The highlight of the Lecture was when someone stuck her head in and said she had the room booked for 9pm. Jim announced that “possession was 9/10 of the Law” and everyone in the room cracked up ! She just closed the door and went off ! the low point was when Jim told Group 1 that they had to be down for Breakfast at 6.30am !

The different groups headed off out of Cork on Friday between 7.00 and 8.15. We dragged ourselves along for the first 2 hours or so, getting up all the various hills in and around Cork, Fermoy, Mitchelstown, and finally got into Cashel around 12.30-1pm. The Sisk Site at Cordis in Cashel had laid on a great Lunch for us in the Site Canteen, with a huge selection of hot and cold food, fruit, chocolate etc etc… Unfortunately as we still had about 50 miles to go we couldn’t really do it justice or we wouldn’t have been able to move on the bikes !

We headed off again in groups after lunch on the flatter roads heading for our overnight stop in Durrow, passing through Horse and Jockey and Urlingford. At this stage we felt as if we were on familiar ground as we had covered this stretch of road on the Training Camps preceding the event. One of the lads took a trip over the handlebars following a slight collision with another bike, but luckily he landed in a soft grassy verge and was unhurt apart from his pride ! We arrived at the Castle Arms Hotel in Durrow between 2.30-3pm, and promptly got stuck into a few well deserved beers in the sunshine – very pleasant ! After a quick Shower and a rest, Dinner was at 7pm, followed by another chat from Jim, and then a trip to Bobs Bar for the rest of the evening.

We hit the sack around midnight for another early start. Breakfast was scheduled for 7am, but the staff hadn’t really woken up at that stage so we relaxed for a few minutes, then went for a second attempt. We got on the road for day 2 between 8 and 8.30am. A shorter distance of 65 miles meant just one Tea Break in Monasterevin. We turned off the main road at Abbeyleix and took the back roads to Kildare to avoid the heavy traffic. After the Tea Break we headed on for the last 30 miles to City West, again keeping up a good pace.

We had a fantastic spin up with a tailwind most of the way, and quiet back roads. Coming across Co. Kildare around the Curragh was amazing with mile after mile of fast road with hardly any traffic, mostly slightly downhill, when we kept up speeds of 35-45km/h for what seemed like ages. We got into the built up areas and came through Kildare Town and Naas, and then on into Johnstown. Jim had saved one last sting in the tail with a steep hill before the final descent into Rathcoole where we stooped to regroup and ride into City West together. We rolled in the last few kms and arrived at the finish at 12.30pm on Saturday.

After a quick break for an energy drink to recharge the batteries, and chat to family and friends who had come along to meet us, we went for a welcome shower in the Leisure Centre followed by a great lunch arranged by Sisks. Each participant received a lovely hardwood engraved souvenir plaque made by the Sisk Training Centre staff and trainees, and a T-shirt.

A huge Thank You to all who helped with the event, especially Jim Tuohy who has to be the most energetic person I’ve ever met ! Also to Gerry Maguire, back-up crew of Michael, James and Mary, the staff and management of Cordis and Sisks in Cashel, and Bernie Kennedy for arranging everything at the Finish.

Everyone finished the event in great form, and as far as I know no-one had to take to the vans at any stage, so well done to all.

With regard to Sponsorship, Sisks have agreed to add €1000 for every €2000 collected by the participants, which is fantastic news.

Big Thank You to everyone who sponsored us. The total for the whole group is still to be confirmed but I understand that it is around €30000 !