Club News Week Ending 04/12/11

Festive Fifty raises €1,000 for IWA

Marble City Cyclers hosted this year’s Festive Fifty fun cycle on Sunday, with all proceeds raised for the Kilkenny branch of IWA.  Ninety-two participants really got into the spirit of the festivities with loads of Santa hats on display, many cyclists donning the full Santa outfit for the cycle (beard n’all!) and one participant even went traditional and donned the green Santa suit.  Other participants pimped up the bikes and had them decorated with holly, bells and even snowmen!  The sight really did set the atmosphere for the Xmas holidays and drew amused looks from passing motorists!

The cyclists were fortunate that the weather forecast predicted for the morning didn’t come through and instead they enjoyed the 50k cycle in some nice mild December weather.  The spin started at the IWA House on College Road and then proceeded to Gowran, Dungarvan and then stopped in Thomastown for some festive refreshments, including mince pies and Roses!  The group then made their way back to Kilkenny, where the good people of IWA had a bowl of warm soup and rolls ready for the hungry cyclists.  The provisions at the food-stop were kindly sponsored by Supervalu in Loughboy, while the soup was generously donated by Avonmore soup.

After Brendan O’Reilly, organiser of the Festive Fifty, present Tony Coy of IWA with the fundraising cheque for €1,000, spot prizes were presented to the most “festive cyclists”!  Many, many thanks to the following for donating some excellent prizes:  Avonmore, Optimum Nutrition sport supplements, mystuff.ie personalised labels, The Book Centre, Actlive Club centre at Hotel Kilkenny and Seafield Golf Course.  Without their generosity and that of Supervalu (Loughboy) and Avonmore soup, we would have not been able to raise the figure we did for a worthy cause like IWA.

Pic: 2011 Festive Fifty makes its way out along the Ring Road.

Ballyhoura Trip

On Saturday we had another group down in Ballyhoura for more mucky fun. The group consisting of Joe Ryan, Mick Battle, Pat Murray, Roisin Hickey, Stephen Darmody, Denis Carrigan, Barry Lynch, Terry and Donal Brophy took on the "White Route" and managed to get round with just a few minor scrapes and bruises but thank God no trip to A&E required this time.

Pic L to R: Terry Brophy, Donal Brophy, Denis Carrigan, Joe Ryan, Barry Lynch, Mick Battle, Stephen Darmody, Roísín Hickey.

Tip of the week:  For every one week you’re off the bike, it normally takes two weeks to get back your fitness.  So enjoy your Xmas (and indulge a bit!), but do try to get a few spins in over the Xmas holidays to keep the hard-earned bike fitness up!!