Club Chairman elected to the board of Cycling Ireland

History was made this week for County Louth, Dundalk town and Cuchulainn Cycling Club when it's chairman Pat O'Shaughnessy was elected, by his peers, to the board of Cycling Ireland. Pat is the first Louth, Dundalk or Cuchulainn person to achieve such a prestigious position within the governing body of the sport in Ireland.

Pat has been steeped in cycling his entire life & remembers being 3 years old when first going to watch his father Sean & uncle's Eugene & Ollie race. His uncle Ollie O'Shaughnessy is a former national champion, winning championships in 1960 and 1961. In fact Pat even met his wife through cycling, when he began seeing Jack Murphy's daughter Sharon, Jack also having numerous Irish Cmhampionship titles from the 60s, 70s & the 90s. The 2010 published book "Dundalk a Cycling History 1819 - 2010" actually shows 4 generations of Pat's family, the most recent additions being his three boys Cian, Conor & Cillian, all of whom who are already avid fans of the bike.

Pat began his own racing career in 1973 when he took 4th in the Novice race at the Paddy Neary Race, which is still run today. Back in 73 the race was run on a circuit in Ravensdale, with the finish in Major's Hollow. While he did race consistently it was more a love of the sport & simply riding the bike that Pat was known for. He is also well known for his exploits on another 2 wheeled machine, the motorbike! Having acted as a motorbike marshal at the Dundalk races Pat was invited to act as a motorbike marshal at the Rás in 1993 & this began a 20 year affair with the race. Having not missed a single running of the race since then Pat is now part of the PR team for the race and is responsible for piloting the official RTE camera man on each of the stages, as well as co-ordinating the stage end  PR media releases. Over the 20 years he has seen the race become considerably more professional & estimates an increase of 3mphs as more professional teams have become involved.

In tandem with his role in the Rás has been his 18 year role as chairman of Cuchulainn Cycling Club. Pat has presided over the club from it's glory days of underage racing in the early 90s, watched it's decline early in the new century & then played a pivotal role in it's rebuilding to a point where it has over 325 members, is in the top 3 clubs in the country & was twice voted Cycling Ireland's "Club of the Year".  When asked what it is about the club that has made it so successful Pat thinks it is that the club caters for everyone, from those wanting to ride 5 miles to a café, to those wanting to hurtle down mountains at breakneck speeds.

Much has been touted off the massive growth of Cycling in the UK, where membership stands at 60,000, which works out at approximately 1 per million people in the country, however membership of Cycling Ireland is at 19,000, which works out at 4 per million. Despite of this, mainstream media in this country has not really picked up on the sport and this is an area Pat want's to tackle while on the board. Also funding from the government does not represent this huge interest in the sport & these are the areas where Pat will direct most of his focus. He is adamant that he will bring Cycling Ireland back to it's members, through making the sport more visible & better communication from the sport's governing body.

Another item that Pat will be pushing hard for will be the building of Velodrome for the sport in Dundalk. Pat was part of the club committee that has secured land & planning permission for what would be the first international standard cycling track in the country. This would in no end help to promote the sport in the country & also mean that World Champions, like Martyn Irvine, would not have to go abroad to train.

To the people who know Pat they are in no doubt that he will rise to the challenge's presented in his new role & are sure he will play a huge part in making the sport more visible to cyclist & the public alike. The members of his club wish to pass on their congratulations & wish him the best of luck during his time on the board.