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

Next in line to be interviewed for our series of rider profiles was one of the stars of Orwell's last golden age in the 1980s, and now spends his time helping the next generation of stars to come through by helping to organise the club league, and this year's very successful Corkagh park youth league. Fresh from narrowly missing out on winning Cycling Ireland's volunteer of the year award, read on for five minutes with Damien Long... Age: 52            Years with Orwell?:  38

Many of the previous pieces on orwellwheelers.org were written by the talented Mr Quigley, whose day job sees him rub shoulders with high calibre sportstars, from Olympic sailor Annalise Murphy to Scottish legend Graeme Obree. In his spare time, he can be found dishing out helpful tips to novice racers, usually after the finish line. In the following interview, we enjoyed turning the tables, and asking him the questions for once. Declan, for his part, was only too happy to g

FIVE+ DECADES WITH... Noel O'Neill In interview with Aideen Collard Our long running series of rider profiles makes a return this week after a lengthy break, starting off this week with an interview with our longest serving member, Noel O'Neill. A former National Champion at Road, Track and Time Trial, and having spent almost 60 years with the club through both the good years and the bad, Noel most definitely fits the description of club legend.   Age: 75 (and very proud of i

With the Winter spins ticking along and Sportive and Racing seasons both about to kick off, now is an ideal time to rekindle our series of rider profiles before the front page is filled with news of results, and there could be no-one more apposite to be the next interviewee than the man who has been  the friendly face of Orwell Wheelers to a significant majority of newcomers over the past few years. Read on to find out more about our current "Clubman of the year", the man kn

Next in line to be interviewed for our rider profiles is "Most Consistent rider of 2010", John Twomey. 2010 was a busy year for John with a return to racing after nearly two decades of an absence, sportives in every corner of the Country, not to mention completing the gruelling Race Around Ireland with the County Cork team. Age: 35    Years with Orwell?: 3 years How did you get into cycling?   I was quite involved with athletics at an early age, but after watching Stephen Ro

The latest in our increasingly inaccurately titled series of 5 minute profiles is Brian Ahern, for whom brevity isn't a strongpoint! For answers to every question that we thought to ask him, and a handful more that we didn't, read on...     Age: 30            Years with Orwell:  I was a member from 1993 – 2000; then returned in 2004 so about 13 years altogether. How did you get into cycling? It’s my brothe r Colm’s f ault.  As a kid I played every sport going but my main spor

The latest rider to be profiled is co-organiser of last week's highly successful table quiz, Anne Dalton. Known almost as well for her prodigious cycling talent as she is for her caustic assessments of her fellow clubmates, it really is hard to believe it's been less than a year since Anne blew in and started to turn the place upside down. Read on to hear what makes her tick...     Age: 29 Years with Orwell:  10 months How did you get into cycling?   A Dare!I was at a work f