With a sad heart, I learned today of the death of Willie John, a man who had inspired me from the first time I met him at the Woodgreen 100 miles Ulster Champ TT about 10 years ago. I was the commissaire on duty that day and if my memory serves me right he did the 100 miles that day in less than 5 hours, despite doing a wrong turn on the course, and had to do some cyclo-cross to get back to the course! lol…When I asked him that day what his secret was at his age to go so well, Willie told me milk directly from the cow in his bottle and homemade sandwiches. What a character he was, even when he had his terrible accident, and confined to a wheelchair he kept positive…Me and my wife Maggie went to visit him once on his farm near Buncrana, close to his favourite training ground called the Mamore gap, his brother Danny was living with him and looking after Willie after his crash. We talked for hours about his beloved cycling, we will miss him, another legend who came out of Donegal. Our sincere condolences to his close family, the Donegal Cycling fraternity, and his many friends all over Ireland and further a field
