Cllr. Eamon O’Boyle, Chairman of Dundalk Town Council and Cllr. Declan Breathnach, Chairman of Louth County Council, Town Clerk, Frank Pentony, Sinead Roche, Dundalk Tourism Officer along with Karl Dolan and Pat O’Shaughnessy of Cuchulainn Cycling Club at the official launch of the Irish leg of the Giro d’Italia which will pass through Dundalk, Castlebellingham and Dunleer on 11th May 2014
History was made this week for County Louth, Dundalk town and Cuchulainn Cycling Club when its chairman Pat O’Shaughnessy was elected, by his peers, to the board of Cycling Ireland. Pat is the first Louth, Dundalk or Cuchulainn person to achieve such a prestigious position within the governing body of the sport in Ireland.
Pat has been steeped in cycling his entire life and remembers being three years old when first going to watch his father Sean and uncles, Eugene and Ollie, race. His uncle Ollie O’Shaughnessy is a former national champion, winning championships in 1960 and 1961. In fact, Pat even met his wife through cycling, when he began seeing Jack Murphy’s daughter Sharon; Jack also having numerous Irish Championship titles from the 60s, 70s and the 90s. The 2010 published book “Dundalk a Cycling History 1819 – 2010” actually shows four generations of Pat’s family, the most recent additions being his three boys Cian, Conor and Cillian, all of whom who are already avid fans of the bike.
Pat began his own racing career in 1973 when he took fourth in the novice race at the Paddy Neary Race, which is still run today. Back in ’73 the race was run on a circuit in Ravensdale, with the finish in Major’s Hollow. While he did race consistently it was more a love of the sport and simply riding the bike that Pat was known for. He is also well known for his exploits on another two wheeled machine, the motorbike! Having acted as a motorbike marshal at the Dundalk races, Pat was invited to act as a motorbike marshal at the Rás in 1993 and this began a 20 year affair with the race. Having not missed a single running of the race since then, Pat is now part of the PR team for the race and is responsible for piloting the official RTÉ camera man on each of the stages, as well as co-ordinating the stage end PR media releases. Over the 20 years he has seen the race become considerably more professional and estimates an increase of 3mphs as more professional teams have become involved.
In tandem with his role in the Rás has been his 18 year role as chairman of Cuchulainn Cycling Club. Pat has presided over the club from its glory days of underage racing in the early 90s, watched its decline early in the new century and then played a pivotal role in its rebuilding to a point where it has over 325 members, is in the top three clubs in the country and was twice voted Cycling Ireland’s “Club of the Year”. When asked what it is about the club that has made it so successful, Pat thinks it is that the club caters for everyone, from those wanting to ride five miles to a café, to those wanting to hurtle down mountains at breakneck speeds.
Much has been touted of the massive growth of cycling in the UK, where membership stands at 60,000, which works out at approximately one per million people in the country, however membership of Cycling Ireland is at 19,000, which works out at four per million. Despite of this, mainstream media in this country has not really picked up on the sport and this is an area Pat wants to tackle while on the board. Also funding from the government does not represent this huge interest in the sport and these are the areas where Pat will direct most of his focus. He is adamant that he will bring Cycling Ireland back to its members, through making the sport more visible and ensuring better communication from the sport’s governing body.
Another item that Pat will be pushing hard for will be the building of a Velodrome for the sport in Dundalk. Pat was part of the club committee that has secured land and planning permission for what would be the first international standard cycling track in the country. This would in no end help to promote the sport in the country and also mean that World Champions, like Martyn Irvine, would not have to go abroad to train.
To the people who know Pat they are in no doubt that he will rise to the challenges presented in his new role and are sure he will play a huge part in making the sport more visible to the cyclist and the public alike. The members of his club wish to pass on their congratulations and wish him the best of luck during his time on the board.
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