For most the trip to Croke Park is arduous enough - (albeit worth it if your team is playing ), but a group of charitable north Kilkenny cyclists are making the trip even more difficult by opting to cycle the distance from Castlecomer.
Castlecomer District Hospital Day-care Centre is to benefit from the sponsorship cards of at least 40 cyclists who have pledged their support to the cause and have been on their bikes for weeks in the lead-up to the big trip.
The group will meet this Saturday morning at eight o’ clock at the day-care centre where they will be treated to a carnival breakfast from the grateful staff and patients of the hospital. There will be entertainment from the Castlecomer Male Voice Choir, Jimmy and Barry Byrne and Trish Carroll, who will be singing on the morning. The cyclist anthem and the grand finale song - The Rose of Mooncoin - will be sung as the cyclists depart for Croke Park out the gate of the hospital with a Garda escort.
The first stop for the cyclists is Clogh where the idea for this cycle originated.
Sean Holden, who is one of the organisers of the event said that the origin of the cycle stems from many years ago.
“A man from Clogh, Jimmy Doyle, started off this cycle about 20 years ago. He was with friends the night before the All-Ireland and he was telling the story about how his father used to cycle to Croke Park for the final whenever it would occur. He decided then and there to do the cycle himself the next day and he set off on his bike with his sandwiches. That was when it all started. So to this day we take our first stop in Clogh for photographs.”
The cyclists will travel from there to Wolfhill, Ballylynan, Athy, Kilcullen, Naas and then all meet up at Newlands Cross to cycle into Croke Park together - hopefully with a Garda escort.
“This is a fun cycle. We hope that everyone will enjoy it and if things get too tough we will have a minibus on the road too for anyone that might need a break,” said Sean.
“We hope that at the end of the day that will have raised €10,000 for the day-care centre. It is a very worthy cause and we are grateful for all who sponsored our cause in the run-up to the event.”
