THE biggest name in Irish cycling is going to take part in Slaughtneil’s ‘Carn to Coast’ bike ride on Sunday.
Cyclists who enter the event will have the opportunity to have their photograph taken with Irish sports icon Seán Kelly during the registration and afterwards at the barbecue. The Waterford native will then join different groups of cyclists as they cover the 63-mile route.
Club member Pádraig McKaigue explained why the organising committee made the decision to bring Sean Kelly to Slaughtneil.
“We wanted to try and make ‘Carn to Coast’ unique. We realise that a lot of GAA clubs are doing bike rides now so wanted to do something different. When we discussed the idea of getting a big name, we decided that we might as well get the biggest name of them all – Seán Kelly.”
McKaigue, who was given the task of getting in contact with the former world number one revealed that it wasn’t an easy job.
“Sean doesn’t have an agent, and he doesn’t have a website. We eventually tracked down a family friend and she took my telephone number. She said if Sean was interested, he would ring us. He rang me from a training camp in Belgium the following day.”
While the event has prompted a huge upsurge in the number of cyclists in Slaughtneil, the club is hoping that Kelly’s presence will draw participants from further a field.
“That was one of the reasons we got Sean Kelly onboard. We are hoping that cycling enthusiasts will want to come along and meet him and get their photograph taken with him,” said McKaigue.
Although it is possible to register on the morning of the bike ride, McKaigue has asked entrants to enter the event online, via entrycentral.com
“If people sign up on the internet it will give us an indication of how much food we need to buy and how much parking is required. At the minute, we don’t know if 200 people or 400 people are going to turn up. People are more than welcome to pay on the day but we would encourage them to sign up online”.
Ranked as world No.1 for six seasons, Kelly enjoyed prolific success in the one-day classics, winning Giro De Lombardia, Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. An explosive sprinter, Kelly was also an accomplished stage rider as he won Paris-Nice for a record breaking seven times and the three-week Vuelta a Espana.
