Paul Clarke takes a look at the history of the esteemed Irish cycling race

 

During the course of a telephone conversation with Joe Christle over 40 years ago it became clear that this extraordinary man didn’t believe in taking no for an answer and was prepared to talk and argue all night if that’s what was required to get his point across. He struck me as somebody who possessed boundless reserves of energy and a steely determination to get his way. When the talking eventually ceased I thought about the amazing life he had lived, his courage and conviction in fighting for what he believed in and the stellar role he played in establishing what became an Irish sporting institution – the Rás Tailteann cycle race.
Standing by his grave in Kilmessan Cemetery years later in the company of a walking, talking cycling encyclopaedia, I was reminded of a wet day outside the General Post Office in Dublin, in 1953, when the first Rás commenced.

My companion spoke of how Christle’s efforts helped it grow into an event which brought colour and drama to rural roads, towns big and small, and captured hearts and imaginations in the process.
Among many other things, Christle was a staunch republican whose vision for the Rás was much more than a sporting event. It would have a strong cultural and nationalistic element and the choice of the GPO for the start was symbolic due to its links to the Easter Rising of 1916.
But even Christle could hardly have envisaged how big it would become, the great riders who graced it and won it and how the public embraced it as it blazed past them on summer days.

Among them was its most famous winner Stephen Roche, in 1979, and Mick Murphy, who had very little in common with Roche apart from his one mention on the roll-of-honour in 1958. Their backgrounds couldn’t be more different, just like their careers after those triumphs, yet they shared that special place among those who triumphed in the race which Christle started and drove on to greatness.

Every winner of a Ras has countless stories to tell, none more so than legendary Dubliner Shay O’Hanlon who holds the record outright victory tally with four. Add in Kildare’s three-time winner Paddy Flanagan and teak-tough, ultra confident Meath man Philip Cassidy, whose two successes came 16 years apart, and you get a taste of the great riders who pushed their bodies to the limit in pursuit of the big prize.

The title Rás Tailteann derived from the ancient Tailteann Games staged in Meath and the 52 riders who participated in 1953 were trail-blazers for those who followed.
They were also all members on the National Cycling Association, a 32-county organisation which didn’t recognise partition and was barred from international competition as a result.
It had a rival in the 26-county Cumann Rothaíochta na hÉireann, formed in 1949, and which was later accepted into the international fold. It organised the Tour of Ireland from 1954. There was a bitter rivalry between the two organisations and it wasn’t until 1978 that significant steps towards unity in Irish cycling were made.

The GAA rowed in behind the Rás, though it provided limited financial assistance. The more conservative element within the NCA had reservations and there was a sense that a stage race was a step too far – even if it was a mere two-day event from Dublin to Wexford and back.

Weather conditions didn’t help, but that didn’t prevent Cork man Mick Carr from writing his own piece of history as he claimed the inaugural stage. Ahead of the return spin to Dublin the next day Christle spoke to his brother Colm about the lack of a prize fund and how an outright victory for his sibling would safeguard against any embarrassment.

Colm responded by overcoming a variety of difficulties and winning the stage. His efforts also made him the first winner of the Rás Tailteann, with the minor placings filled by Pat Kenna and Kerry Sloane who went on to be a another prime mover in the evolution of the event.

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own