CYCLISTS taking part in Sunday's Gran Fondo will be in the illustrious company of one of only three people from the North ever to have won a gold medal at an Olympic Games.
Now a sprightly 54-year-old and a keen cyclist, Jimmy Kirkwood helped the Great Britain hockey team beat Germany in the Olympic final in Seoul in 1988. Stephen Martin, who is now chief executive of the Olympic Council of Ireland, was a team-mate as the pair emulated Mary Peters' achievement at the Munich Games in 1972.
Kirkwood went on to win 79 caps, 31 for Great Britain and 48 for Ireland in the days when players had dual-eligibility but, nowadays, cycling is his main sporting passion. He will be using Sunday's Gran Fondo - the second edition of the legacy event following the North's hosting of the 2014 Giro d'Italia - to prepare for the biggest challenge of his cycling career.
Next month, he will be among the 10,000-plus amateur cyclists competing in L'Etape du Tour, a gruelling mass participation event, which replicates a stage of the Tour de France. In comparison to that, Sunday's 175-kilometre ride around the Mourne mountains should be a stroll for Kirkwood, who is looking forward to the challenge of both events.
"I took up cycling about 15 years ago, primarily as a hobby after I stopped playing hockey, but I suppose it's become a little more serious now in terms of the kilometres we put in," said the Hillsborough native, who also played for Ireland at hockey's 1990 World Cup in Pakistan.
"There's a crowd of us who ride together and we tend to do some 150-200 kilometres every week, it's a lot of fun and good for the mind as well as the body. I find it very therapeutic actually and there's always a chance to chat with your mates, as well other cyclists you meet when you're out and about.
"We haven't set ourselves any time-targets and the main aim will be simply to make sure we all finish the course in one piece and enjoy it. The official teams who are doing the Mourne route will have an advantage over us as we are just a group of individuals who enjoy the sport.
"When we are out riding together in our training jaunts, we usually have plenty of pit-stops along the way and it's probably calorie-neutral in terms of the physical benefits. And I have to admit some, of the guys' rehydration habits post-race aren't what they should be."
There will be plenty of Italian beer and wine on offer for the 4,000 or so participants who will be taking part in the Gran Fondo in the post-event pasta party, but Kirkwood won't be indulging as he prepares for L'Etape: "It's going to be brutal and it's a very mountainous course, as you'd expect, but I'm looking forward to it, however perverse that might seem," he added.
"Sunday's course will be a big challenge as well, we'll be using it as preparation for L'Etape and I think the whole idea of the Gran Fondo is fantastic for cycling here."
The alternative to Kirkwood's chosen course is the less daunting Strangford route, a 58km loop, achievable for beginner and novice cyclists who will be traversing the north Down area.
