Profiles

Katie Turner Katie is a second year student at Mount Anville Secondary School where she pursues a range of subjects and extracurricular activities. Her favourite subjects include History, Geography, Science and English. She also enjoys Basketball, Cross Country Running and Hockey. She has two siblings, 10 year old twins, who are also avid cyclists. In the winter months Katie is to be found on the CX courses around Ireland sloshing through the mud in CX races around the countr

UCI Category: M40 (cyclocross), C2 (road) Occupation: Engineer working in the renewable energy sector Riding since: 2014 Background: Proud Galwegian married to Aishling (a Dub) and father to two children (one self-professed Dub’ son and one daughter that I can still convince to declare as a Galwegian!) Disciplines : These days I’m a committed cyclocross rider who sometimes extends his season into road and mountain biking. This year my ambitions on the road are extending a

UCI Category: Under 23 Occupation: Business & Sports Science Student Medical Physics Resident Riding since: 2014 Rider Profile My name is Joe-Nathan Matar, I am 2nd year U23 riding for Orwell Wheelers. I’m currently enrolled in college at Maynooth University completing a Business and Sports Science degree. I started my journey in cycling through duathlons and triathlons when I was 9 and started focusing solely on cycling as a 2nd year Junior. I’m from Belgium but lived in D

UCI Category: Cat 1 Occupation: Medical Physics Resident Riding since: February 2023 Originally a track and cross country runner, I moved to cycling in 2023 after being plagued with injury during my late teens and early 20’s. I had respectable times over 5k (14:52) and shorter distances, which I figured would lend itself well to road cycling. After moving up to A2 in my first 2 months of racing I spent a Summer training and racing in Boulder, Colorado, USA, as a mesh of J

UCI Category: Cycling Ireland C2 Occupation: MD at Gid Industrial Ltd Riding since: 2024 A slightly different profile, taken from the Irish Daily Mirror article by Pat Nolan 21 FEB 2025 Ex-Donegal star still asking 'what might have been?' after five hip surgeries ended GAA career It was eight years ago this week that Keaney’s football career ended, having been told by an orthopaedic surgeon that he had the hips of a 70-year-old A meeting of Galway and Donegal brings tog

UCI Category: Cycling Ireland C2 Occupation: Computer Science Student @ DCU Riding since: Rider Summary Passionate road racer with one year of experience, specializing in sprints and long endurance rides. My love for cycling began when I started commuting to school by bike every day. Before discovering cycling, I played table tennis in my youth, but it never truly excited me the way cycling does. 2024 Racing Key Results Event Name Date Category Summerhill GP March 2 A3 S

UCI Category: Under 23 Occupation: Sports Science Student Riding since: October 2022  2024 Training Month Distance Hours Elevation January 1,400 78 9,800 February 2,120 93 26,000 March  2,000 84 24,000 April 2,100 85 26,400 May 1,720 79 22,500 June 2,280 87 26,300 July 1,900 73 22,957 August 2,250 87 20,771 September 1,700 87 16,145 October 1,150 54 16,900   January & February The month started off with some running and a marathon to switch it up a bit. After that, this pe

Following on with our Five Minute Series we are talking to our hard working Club Secretary Fergal O'Sullivan this week. Fergal has been a club member for over 10 years and in that time has helped run the Orwell Randonnee, sat on the committee in various roles, helped with many many club spins and still managed to find time to ride his own bike! Find out more about the man behind those "membership reminder" emails here....... Age: Currently 50, turning 51 at the end of the mon

George Flanagan has only been with the club for a few years but has made a big impression in that short time - earning the accolade of "Rookie of the Year" in 2017 and recently being elected to the role of Vice- President of the club. We asked George a few questions to get to know the man behind the smile a little better.......   Age: 67   Years with Orwell?  I joined the club in April 2017.   How did you get into cycling?  Tell us a little about your sporting history? I rece

Brian McArdle has been very active in Orwell since joining - both behind the scenes in his role as PRO and on the bike in the open races and in the Orwell Club League - excelling at both and taking the Club League in 2015. Our latest Five minute profile gives us the chance to catch up with Brian's story in the club in the aftermath of the Club League victory, his first participation in the Rás and his continued drive in preparing for a second Rás and in both open races and th

Ciara Kinch has consistently been at the heart of the action in women's racing in Ireland over the past eight years taking multiple victories in Orwell colours. After a year racing for Towers CC, Kinch has returned to Orwell at a time when Orwell's women's team hopes to put in an exciting 2016.   Ciara with her time trial trophies at the 2015 IVCA prize giving. Ciara won the 10mile and 25 mile TTs in and came in the TT IVCA champs (photo thanks to Tony Pearson) Age: 42 Years

After several profiles with members who race primarily, we also wanted to profile Sinead Kennedy, one of our active and consistent members in the leisure/touring section. Sinead Kennedy participates as part of the Orwell gang in a calendar of events and she was part of the gang that took on the epic Marmot in 2014. In addition to cycling and during the season, Sinead takes part in adventure races, marathons and most recently trekked up to the Everest base camp in freezing wea

Tom Weymes won't mind me saying this but he is one of the elder statesmen of the club and is a real inspiration to all the younger Orwellians out there. At the ripe age of 74 Tom is heading towards doing his 11th Wicklow 200 this June and even has eyes on the 6 day iconic Alpine Classic Cols with the rest of the Orwell Alpine nutters (myself included!).When some of the rest of the club look outside and see rain, mountains and pain....Tom smiles to himself and gets on the bike

With the off-season lull continuing, here's something to brighten your day - a quick interview with one of Orwell's racing legends, Paul Tansey! Paul time trialing in his TI Raleigh days. Age: 54 Years with Orwell: 39 years. How did you get into cycling? Did you try any other sports first? At school I was a good national standard swimmer and had several medals to my name. But I gave it up when I was studying for the Inter Cert. During those exams I took time off to look at

Age: 42   Years with Orwell: … joined in 1986-missed a few years in the middle due to misspent college years/working abroad, but once an Orwellian...   How did you get into cycling?  I took up the bike at a very early age thanks to my parents who encouraged me to cycle everywhere. We all had bikes at home and I cycled to school everyday. I tried all the usual school sports and a few more, I think the penny dropped that I was pretty rubbish at rugby when I was getting pummell

How better to start this Season with Orwell Social and Women's Rep, 3rd place in the Joe Daly Cycles National League, Ras na mBan 2014 warrior, leader of the Ladies Beginner Group 2015 and of course Orwell Person of the Year - Ann Horan! .....It's also her Birthday today!   The Horan Sisters! Ann (right) and Helen (photo thanks to Ann) Age: 33 Years with Orwell: Almost 3 years How did you get into cycling and what sports were you doing before? I never had a bike of my own as

This week we profile Orwell Wheelers legend Aidan Hammond. Aidan is well known for his great performances on the bike doing Orwell proud and for his current work with cycling clubs and individuals throughout the country as a trainer and expert bike fitter.   Aidan en route to a top five result in the 1989 Waller Cup A race in Bohermeen, a race he would win a few years later. Age: 46 Years with Orwell: Officially since 1985 but you could say since I was in a pram as my fathe

Eugène Dillon won the Orwell leisure league by taking part in over 40 events in 2015 and accumulating over 130 points. Easily the most prolific Sportif rider in 2015 and quite possible set a record on number of events done that will never be equaled! A staggering year's cycling that took Eugene to every corner and county in Ireland and Sportifs in over 5 countries for a combination of over 4000km in Sportifs alone....what better person to kick off our 2nd 5 minutes with inter

Our next profile feature is on Jamie Busher, a consistent A3 racer not afraid of a classic 'all or nothing' attack who, in addition to his personal achievements in A3 races, has really worked with the other A3 Orwell racers, culminating with victory for Orwell Wheelers in the A3 National Championships this year. Jamie at the Suir Valley (photograph with thanks to John Coleman). Age: 40 Years with Orwell: 5 years What made you choose Orwell? Orwell has a great reputation in

With the Rás dominating the weekend racing, we thought it an appropriate time to catch up with one of last year's Men of the Rás, Diarmuid Collins, and find out a bit more about the Limerick man. Age: 37 Years with Orwell: Just over 4 years now What made you choose Orwell Wheelers?  I moved back to Dublin in January 2010 and wanted to join a club. I was moving to Rathfarnham so my starting point was to join a club in that area. I knew no-one in cycling clubs in Ireland so I