Daniel Carey
FORMER Mayo football manager John Maughan is getting on his bike in a bid to raise funds for charity.
The Crossmolina boss is among those taking part in a charity cycle race called Race The Rás, in which participants raise money for the Irish Cancer Society and the international humanitarian agency GOAL. The inaugural event involves a group of non-cyclists tackling the route of the 1,000-mile, eight-day An Post Rás, Ireland’s most prestigious cycle race.
The brainchild of former Roscommon footballer Paul Earley, Race The Rás includes a large number of GAA legends past and present tackling at least one stage of the Rás, which begins on Monday week, May 22. Earley is doing all eight legs, while Maughan is planning to do two.
“I’ve got up to about 60 or 70 miles on trips,” the Mayo County Council Procurement Officer said, describing his training. “I did the Pink Ribbon charity cycle [Castlebar-Balla-Claremorris-Knock-Kiltimagh-Swinford-Foxford-Straide-Castlebar], which was a fantastic success and a great buzz … I’m down to do the leg from Portumna into Kilrush on May 23. It’s about 100 miles. And I’ll do another leg later in the week – I haven’t decided which one yet. It’s a great cause.”
Maughan also did a 60-mile spin in Roscommon on Good Friday, where he was joined by Gerry Fitzmaurice, a selector from his time managing the Shannonsiders. He aims to raise €2,000 for the charities and is organising a fund-raising barbecue in Maughan’s Bar, Crossmolina at 6pm next Sunday, May 15. He’s also inviting donations at www.mycharity.ie/event/john__maughans_event.
“You can’t just hop up on a bike and ride away!” he laughs. “A guy without any kind of cycle training will get to 40, 50 miles, but he won’t get 100 done if he hasn’t a bit of work done. He’ll suffer! And there’s a competitive element to it as well. We’re not just going out for the spin.
“We’re going to have our own little internal competition. We’re doing the very same route as the professional cyclists in the Rás. We’re going out a couple of hours before they start, so we’ll be starting around seven or eight o’clock in the morning. We’ll be three hours ahead, and it wouldn’t be good to be caught! It wouldn’t be great for the oul’ ego to be caught by someone who started three hours behind you!”
Further information on the event is available at www.racetheras.com.
