Laois Cycling Club members complete Couch to 50km Cycle in fine style
Laois Cycling Club members pictured outside their Race Right Cycles base are, Martin Keane, (shop owner) Aidan Delaney, Peter Sreenah, Ed Thompson, Cyril O'Farrell, Mick McDermott, Miriam Kavanagh (chairperson) and Paddy O'Reilly Photos: Stan Henderson
SEVENTEEN intrepid cyclists recently completed the grand finale of their Couch to 50km Cycle, which coincided with National Bike Week.
The event began in early April with a 10km spin and was organised by Laois Cycling Club. Further cycles were held on Wednesday nights in preparation for the big day.
The route for the final leg began and finished at Kew-Lew Business Park, and took in the Ring Road, Mountmellick Road, Barnashrone School, Derrycloney, Rosenallis, Ballyfin and Mountrath, where there was a short water break before cycling back to Portlaoise.
At finishing their trip, the group enjoyed refreshments and homemade treats supplied by Orla and Mae Looney at the L&Co Coffee Truck.
At the presentation ceremony, Ed Thompson from Laois Cycling Club told participants that they had "just cycled the same distance as if they cycled from Portlaoise to Kilkenny city".
Ed and club chairperson Miriam Kavanagh thanked everyone involved, including Liam Kelly and Laois Sports Partnership for their sponsorship, Martin Keane of Race Right Cy-cles for providing a base and sponsoring the trophies, the club committee and members for supporting the participants and marshalling the routes each week, while Martin McCormack helped to plan the weekly routes and club secretary Margaret Mary Carroll looked after the administration side of the event.
Words of congratulations were then conveyed to the participants for their willingness and enthusiasm in taking on the challenge and for seeing it through.
The 17 were presented with their trophies to a huge round of applause and several have al-ready signed up to join the club.
New members are welcome to join Laois Cycling Club, which can be found on Facebook. The club can be contacted by emailing info@laoissports.ie and more information is availa-ble from club member Martin Keane at Race Right Cycles in Kew-Lew Business Park.
