Ronan O'Flynn

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 all the way to Rás Tailteann (some might say foolishly). This will be my third time competing in the race having previously ridden it in 2016 & 2017.

Racing Category:

M40 in cyclocross & currently C2 on the road

Sporting Background:

I started competitive road cycling just over 10 years ago at the age of 35 with Galway Bay CC. I had spent most of my younger years playing hurling with Castlegar and football with Claregalway, both clubs located just outside Galway city. With a move to Dublin for work on the cards and no sign of a much sought after senior county title materialising I decided to switch to cycling to follow the lead of my childhood heroes of the late 1980’s like Kelly & Roche.

Cycling Record:

I made decent progress up through the ranks in my first year on the road back in 2015 finishing the season a few points shy of the A1 category. Come autumn and now living in Dublin I took part in my first cyclocross race and was hooked pretty quickly. Back on the road in 2016 and having joined Orwell Wheelers I raced to victory in the early season Des Hanlon A2 race to make the move to A1. That day I had been in a break for almost the full 150km or so of the race before getting away in the final stages with one other rider, getting my first outright win on the road in a sprint to the line. The remainder of the season saw me complete my first Rás Mumhan, one of my favourite races down through the years, as well as my first Rás, or the An Post Rás as it was known then, being a full 8 day event at that time.

The intervening years have been a mix of road racing at various levels, cyclocross and even mountain biking races on occasions. This season on the road I’m racing in the C2 category with some decent early season results that have led me to a conviction that I can take on the Rás yet again! Let’s see how that goes!

Best Cycling Moments:

I’d have to pick a few here. That victory at the Des Hanlon A2 will always be special due to the prestige of it being “the Des” (even if not at the top elite level) but also because it was my first and remains my only outright win on the road; I had a lot of podiums and near misses but that was the one where all the stars aligned.

Beyond that, sprinting in to 9th place from a reduced bunch on Stage 1 of Rás Mumhan in 2017 was probably my outright best road performance. This was against really strong A1opposition in the second biggest stage race on the Irish calendar. I followed this up with 11th on the crit-like  Stage 4 of the same race and on a bike borrowed shortly before the race start, which was also a strong result. At the time I thought this was going to be the norm for me for the coming seasons but with a 1 year old child at home demanding more of my time and my sleep (!) and a pair of aging 36 year old legs under me, this was in fact the peak! What I’d give now for a top 10 in Rás Mumhan or the likes!

My final pick would have to be a more recent one, my second place in the M40 National Cyclocross championships held just this January 2025 in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway. This was my second silver in two years at the Nationals but on this occasion, racing on home turf, I led from the first lap having taken an aggressive approach to try to put the race favourite Glenn Kinning on the back foot. That approach almost worked but I was passed with less than half a lap to go and missed out on a much-coveted green national champs jersey by 3 seconds to the aforementioned Kinning. Roll on the 2025/26 CX season!

Ambitions for Rás Tailteann 2025:

Flying the flag for the forty something year olds that don’t know when to give in, my main ambition at this stage is to get around in one piece and not to bring embarrassment on myself, my family or the good people of Orwell Wheelers cycling club! In an ideal world I’d be targeting that stage 2 finish into Clifden and looking to do something to make the folks out west proud but that might be a bit too ambitious! Most of all I’ll be looking to enjoy the experience, making the most of being in that exciting race bubble, catching up with old cycling friends and getting to know my new teammates better over the 5 stages of the race.

Acknowledgements:  

Thanks to Neal and all the backroom team in the club who are working diligently to prepare the team for this race and ensure that the riders like me have little to worry about apart from pedalling those bikes.

Thanks to Pinergy, our club and racing team sponsor who give financial support to help us compete in and represent our club at major races. Your support is appreciated.

Thanks to my old friends at Joe Daly’s for all the support they give to me throughout the year, particularly when I turn up with two CX bikes in the days leading up to a big race and they come through for me as always!

Thanks to my coach Thomas Fallon who has prepared me well for this latest challenge as he has done throughout recent CX seasons.

A big thanks as ever to Aishling for the support in allowing me to pursue my cycling passion but also for knowing when to tell me to toughen up, get on with it and stop feeling sorry for myself!