Congratulations to all receivers of the bursary, I am doing this now for a few years, and so many who deserve a bit of help, but in the end I only can choose a few, this out of the funds available, the money comes from from the end balance of last years funds + the MC jobs donations after expenses. We will give another 14 bursaries to single cyclists in June 24 (Juniors & U23’s) How to enter the selection pool will be online before end January. Each bursary award for the clubs will be £220 (€ 250 approx) In behalf of our volunteers and sponsors…Congratulation’s!! Comhghairdeachas!!
Orwell Wheelers CC – County Dublin Leinster
Here is a short piece on what the club offers for the kids
Orwell Wheelers is a club with a long-standing tradition of supporting, developing and encouraging youth cycling. Always catering for both boys and girls, and for riders of different abilities, we hold weekly coaching sessions throughout the year, as well as social and team-building events. For those who like to compete, we support participation in a range of events throughout the year and are so proud of our kids who represent us in road, cyclocross and other races. With numbers growing massively during and after Covid, and with a large number of enthusiastic coaches, we expect the current group of kids to keep pushing each other, keep winning and (most importantly) keep enjoying their time on two wheels, in the company of their friends, yours in sport, Ivan O’Brien (Orwell Youth committee)
Straban-Lifford CC – County Tyrone Ulster
Chairperson Sharon Moore told us: “As we enter the 2024 Cycling Season Strabane Lifford Cycling Club will again be hosting their youth development program which aims to bring more young cyclists into the sport of Cycling.
Strabane Lifford Cycling Club was formed in 2010 in the Northwest of Ireland. The cross border cross community sporting club proved to be very popular from the start and a large membership saw the club represented at events throughout the country.
At the start of the 2016 season the club noted the lack of youth cyclists in its membership and went about reversing this trend by establishing its youth development program. The youth section of the club was launched in early 2016 and proved to be a massive success from day one. In its first season the club added 50 young cyclists to its membership. The success proved that if you provide a well structured coaching program for young cyclists they will come forward and give cycling a go.
The youth section is now entering its 8th year and over the past seven years hundreds of young cyclists from Tyrone and Donegal from the ages of 8 to 18 have been members of Strabane Lifford CC. All children that have cycled with the club have really enjoyed their cycling experience. Cycling skills have been built up and confidence levels on the bike have increased accordingly. All the kids have had fun as they enjoyed their cycling with their teammates and being coached by the large number of youth coaches that the club were able to bring to the youth development program.
For Strabane Lifford CC the most important thing each season has always been that the kids enjoy their cycling in a safe friendly and fun environment.
As the program developed some of the young cyclists began to compete in youth races hosted throughout Ireland. Racing success has come accordingly with club riders representing their province and the Strabane Lifford Jersey being prominent in the youth racing scene. Youth victories on the road and on the cyclo-cross tracks have been a point of great pride for the cycling club.
Over the years Strabane Lifford Cycling Club has hosted many youth races. The successful hosting of the Ulster Championships in 2021 and the co-hosting of the Irish Championships in 2023 were massive highlights for the club.
As we move into the 2024 season Strabane Lifford Cycling Club will once again be commencing the youth development program.
The youth cycling commences on Saturday 30th March. The club meet at 10am every Saturday morning at Melvin Sports Complex in Strabane County Tyrone. If any parents are interested in getting their children, ages 8 to 18, involved in the sport of cycling please just contact any member of Strabane Lifford Cycling Club and they will be happy to help. See you all on the road in 2024.
Clonmel CC – Co-Tipperary – Munster
We at Clonmel Cycle Club are delighted to receive this bursary from the Belgian Project. The money will be put towards a new childs bike . Last year we acquired 6 new children’s bikes for children who come to our kiddies events but can’t afford a bike. In 2024 we plan to have on going children’s events at our new sports hub pump track in Clonmel. Events such as kiddies skills league and kiddies short races based on ability rather than just age, yours in sport, Roddy Keane (Clonmel CC & Comm CI)
TC-Racing Cycling Team – Old Castle County Meath, Leinster
Here below is an overview by Rhiannon Dolan off out trip to Belgium and I thing it covers all what these trips are about, racing / team work / life skills / great international race experience and the craic. Thanks for your support, Tom Clogher
Last year with the help of The Belgian Project, and our sponsors we competed in multiple races abroad.
The first trip of the summer was a two week adventure to the cycling heartland of West Flanders.
We met in Dublin at 6.15 and loaded the van up with bikes, kit, rollers and spare wheels as well as enough food to feed the team for a month.
Despite the early start everyone was in great form and we got the music going, determined to wreck our team managers Tom’s head before we’d even left the place..lol
The journey took us from Dublin to Holyhead, down through England to Dover and then from Dover to Calais. Finally after a day’s worth of driving and plenty of coffee stops we made it to our house in Alveringem.
The following day was a blur of grocery shopping, unpacking bikes and anticipation about the racing to follow. We were lucky enough to be supplied some new gear from our lovely sponsors at galibier so there was much excitement about unpacking the boxes of shorts, gloves and jackets all in our team colours. As the evening drew closer we took the opportunity to give the bikes and our legs a spin out on the Belgian roads for the first time. The sunset and heat were pretty surreal and the whole team was in high spirits, ready for a days racing.
Our first race was Kerviel-Borgloon, a kermesse style race with tight corner and some sections of cobbles. We signed on at the lovely café coureur, a café based on all things cycling where we met the owners and their very very friendly dog.
Signed on and warmed up, we headed to the start alongside around 40 other U17 and U19 girls. The race was fast paced with attacks off the front every few minutes and plenty of elbows being thrown to keep positioning within the bunch.
I felt I rode well, although my own one or two attacks meant I had nothing left in the tank for the sprint. After a post race debrief and a cold can of coke we packed up the van and headed back to our Belgian base.
Over the next two weeks we trained, raced, cooked and ate together. The team worked efficiently together to make sure we were well fed and in tip top shape for all our races. Our soigneur Naomi kept our legs fresh with rub downs after races and tough training sessions to make sure we were as recovered as possible while our team manager Tom kept us all in line and our bikes running smoothly.
In the final few days we were fortunate enough to receive an invitation to race the “Wieler Ronde van Beverwijk” in the Netherlands. The organisers were very keen to have foreign teams on the start list and gave us their full support by not only providing us with free entry to the race but putting us up for a night in a 13 century castle complete with a moat and gardens. We returned to Belgium having secured some prize money and the best sleep of our lives.
Before the trip was out we managed to fit in a few off the bike experiences like a day trip to Brussels for some shopping, waffles and tourist attractions, as well as this we visited the centrum ronde van vlaanderen in Oudenaarde where we learned about this history of cycling and the Tour of Flanders.
Some highlights of the trip for me were definitely the experience of my first podium abroad at Eeklo-industrieterrien, an evening swim and pizza in Dunkirk as well as all the fabulous training rides we had especially when we sampled some of Belgium’s famous climbs. None of this would be possible without the support of the team and its very generous sponsors that allow us to travel and gain international experience.
A massive thanks to everyone at the Belgian project for the continued support, we really couldn’t do it without you! Bedankt!!
Rhiannon Dolan (photo below)
