A Mayoman’s first Rás

Life on the road


Westport’s Anthony Murray on his first RΡs

Daniel Carey

TODAY (Tuesday), Anthony Murray returns to Sydney, Australia, a year on from having first moved ‘Down Under’. The Carrowholly, Westport native has just had three weeks back home – and ridden his first ever RΡs.
The 25-year-old was a member of the five-member Subaru-Albion development team which took part in the eight-day stage race, Ireland’s best-known cycling event. Having never done more than a two-day event, he wasn’t sure what he was facing into.
“It was far bigger than we expected,” he told The Mayo News last week. “Riding in a peloton of 180 was just a huge experience. I learned so much. The speeds were so fast. Crowds were huge. Total buzz around it. Nerve-wracking. Everything thrown into it. Eight days. Very hard.”
There were good days. Finishing in the main bunch on day one, just 26 seconds behind two breakaway riders. Surviving a ‘very windy’ day five to finish 58th, and following that up with a 55th-place finish on day six. But there were low moments too. Getting ‘caught out’ by a break on day two and crashing with about 20k to go (“No cuts, but I hurt my ribs, came down on the road hard … I really suffered the last 15k”) . Being taken down in a mass crash involving yellow jersey holder Peter Hawkins on day three – “He broke his collar-bone. I came down pretty heavy on my shoulder and arm and hit my knee … one of my worst days. I lost about 20 minutes.”
After puncturing in Arklow, day seven was all about trying to get inside the time limit, which had seen 23 riders (including Murray’s team-mate Chris McAloran and three members of the Mayo Centra team) eliminated on day four. Murray managed that, and rode the final day into Skerries despite tendonitis in his knee picked up in the Wicklow Gap.
“I woke up Sunday morning with my knee totally swollen,” he recalls. “The physio was working on it just for me to start the stage. The manager wanted to pull me out, but I wanted to give it a lash. When I started, I could hardly move the knee. The pace wasn’t even that high; I just couldn’t cycle the bike. So after about 10k, I was on my own. So I cycled that whole stage by myself, and I was last man in. But I got there.”

A very busy man
LET’S rewind. Murray departed for Oz last June – ‘primarily to work’ – but within a few weeks of his arrival, the Westport Covey Wheeler had joined the Eastern Suburbs Cycling Club. Now he works Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in a quarry with his brother Peter, but trains Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. So cycling has become more than a part-time hobby.
The team was only set up this year to ride the National Road Series in Australia, which includes races in every state. One member, Naas man David Early, was a RΡs veteran, and the idea of making a trip to Ireland was born. How different is cycling in Australia?
“Everything is done very early in the morning,” says Murray. “We’re training at five o’clock in the morning, and our training is usually finished by nine or ten … There’s such traffic on the roads, you have to get out early. There’s not as many road races [in Australia] – because of the traffic, you can’t close the roads. Weather is the biggest difference [from Ireland]. We’re blessed with the weather all the time – it’s a lot easier than here.”
Finishing 104th (out of 180 starters) in the RΡs isn’t half bad for a man who ‘accidentally fell upon’ cycling. He displayed a talent for adventure races, winning the Sea2Summit event, and taking a bronze medal in the European Duathlon in 2011. In his younger days he togged out with Kilmeena, but hasn’t kicked a ball in three years – “I haven’t had time!” he smiles.
“You’ve never any time,” he elaborates. “Because on a Saturday, we go out, we ride for four hours. Then you go home, you get your stuff ready, and you’re racing again at two or three o’clock. Weekends are just all cycling. There is nothing else … We train very hard, take it very seriously … I’ve probably had two nights out in the whole year!”
It’s safe to say he won’t be be appearing on ‘Paddies Down Under’ anytime soon.

Same time next year?
THE team has been invited back for next year’s RΡs, and Murray plans to also come home at Christmas (along with his girlfriend, Triona McNally from The Quay, Westport, who returned from Australia and followed the RΡs for the eight days).
Remarkably, there was ‘not one drop of rain’ during the eight-day RΡs, which pleased Murray and his team-mates – Armagh man McAloran, David Early (at 47, the oldest rider in the RΡs), and Aussies Cameron Harrison and Keegan Aitchison.
They were joined by manager Frank Conceicao, mechanic Jeff Finn (from Kildare) and Perth-born, Westport-based physiotherapist David Ukich, as well as a few ‘groupies’, including Murray’s brother Peter and main sponsor Johnny McKeown, who came back from Australia especially for the race. Next on the cycling agenda is the North West Tour in northern New South Wales – a four-day, five-stage race.
“We’ll be taking a lot of confidence out of the RΡs,” he explains. “We’ve learned a lot, and we’re a lot more sure of ourselves … I’m very happy to have finished it. I started it so I wanted to finish it. I trained all year for it.
“That’s kinda what kept me going. I know how hard I hard worked all year, trying to keep my job going and training going, and it was all for this, really – to get to May … And looking forward, I know what to expect now for next year. With more luck, I can definitely improve on this year and be more competitive.”