May 22 will see the FBD Insurance Rás finish its sixth stage on the streets of Castlebar. A team from Castlebar Cycling Club will be among the pack chasing the yellow jersey for the first time. The five strong team from the club will be following in the footsteps of the like of Seamus Neary, who raced in the Rás over 40 years ago, and Kevin Dunleavy and Billy Burke who competed in the 1980s.
Last year saw two of the club’s members also competing in the race when Chris Toy and David Brennan took on the nationwide challenge. Training for the race has been under way since last October, John Brennan from Castlebar Cycling Club informed the Mayo Advertiser. “We floated the idea last year in the autumn of putting a team into the race and it went from there,” he said. “There was a big interest from the members in the club and the team will be announced very soon for it.”
Entering a team from the club in the race was a very progressive step for the club and one they are looking forward to according to Brennan. “There was always cycling in Castlebar and clubs all the way up to the 1990s, but it faded away in 2000,” he said. “We brought the club back and in the space of nine years we have got to the stage of being able to put a team into the Rás which is a great achievement for everyone involved.” Entering a team into the Rás is a costly venture and one that the club is grateful for the assistance and they will be making a major announcement on funding for the Rás in the near future. “We will be having a launch night and announcing a sponsor who will be backing us for the Rás and the team who will be competing in it, were all very much looking forward to it. The club has gone from strength to strength over the past few years we have about 102 members at present between racing members and leisure cyclists. We’re a bit of a hybrid club because we’re neither a racing club or a leisure club; we cater for both. The ones who are going for a place on the team, would be well known to the leisure cyclists also, as we all start on a Sunday morning for our rides from the TF Royal and the race cyclists would cycle for a few miles before heading off on their own training.”
When the Rás arrives in Castlebar it will be based in TF Royal theatre with the first cyclist expected to arrive in Castlebar at around 2.20pm on Friday May 22 following their journey from Scariff, Co Clare, and they will then leave the next morning to make their way to Clara, Co Offaly.
