ASKING FOR A FRIEND

[niallk]

Hi Folks
Just want to throw a date out there.
Sunday 23rd August 2020.

A good friend of mine and someone many of you will know too is fighting a monumental battle against cancer at the moment.

Many of you will know Tomas Mulqueen, a gentleman of our sport. He rides with de Ronde Van Cork CC and currently is a bike mechanic (the best) in John Mac Carthys Cycles in blackpool.

Tomas is fighting a rare form of oesophageal cancer and is currently receiving chemotherapy at CUH to prepare him for the next phase of his treatment which will be bone marrow transplant.
The search is on worldwide for a suitable donor and if successful Tomas will be heading to Dublin in September for this life saving transplant procedure.

This procedure and all the practicalities associated with it is hugely expensive.
Tomas’ family have launched a fundraising campaign to raise the €100k required to cover the procedure. They set up a gofundme page last week and within five days it reached €42k !!

The next step in the fundraising campaign is we are organising a sportive to tap into the cycling community’s generous nature. We had our first meeting yesterday in ballincollig and the vibe I got was that this is going to snowball into something really special.

No definite details as yet except the date. It will mostly likely be a ballincollig start heading west out macroom direction.

I’ll post more details as they are finalised but for now put that date in your diaries please. Really hoping for a big showing from Carrigdhoun CC.
Tomas is such an all round good guy he deserves our support. He’s going through a very tough time at the moment and it’s only the support he’s getting from family and friends is keeping him going.

Thanks
Niall.

[niallk]

Hi folks
Just a quick update on “Do it for Tomas” cycle.
We couldn’t secure a start base in ballincollig (covid-19 strikes again) so we’re moving the show to East Cork. Starting from Lisgoold, down to Midleton, out to Youghal and a big loop northwards that will take us over the vee from the clogheen side. Cracking route really. About 150k. There will also be a 60 k route.
Date still the same. Sunday 23 rd August. Keep it free please....
More later.

Niall.

[niallk]

Hi All,
UPDATE.
Just to keep y'all in the picture on the #doitfortomás cycle.....

Lots happening and lots of change as planning proceeds.

Firstly, NO CHANGE TO THE DATE. 23RD AUGUST 2020.
The routes are finalised now and completely changed from the original plan (due to logistical reasons and Covid-19 issues).

There are two routes 150k and 70k (Disregard any other information you might see currently on facebook or Cycling Ireland. This should be updated shortly).
Both routes will start at Lisgoold Community Centre and proceed down to Midleton and onto the main road east. At Castlemartyr the 70k route will swing North up to Conna and back down to Lisgoold while the 150k route will continue on to the Youghal by-pass and swing North through Capaquinn, Mount Mellery, Newcastle, Clogheen, over the Vee, Lismore and back down to Lisgoold.

To avoid large gatherings (covid) we are having a "staggered" start so you can roll out from Lisgoold any time between 8.30 and 9.30am. Tomás is very well known and respected in cycling circles and practically every club in cork and beyond that has been contacted has committed to sending a group to the event. To put a bit of structure to this and avoid everyone turning up together we are going to try and allot different times to each club. Also, each group/ club should appoint a leader just to get the group rolling as close to the correct time as possible. I imagine on the day this will all be very casual !

We are hoping to get as many people to pre-register as possible. It is a Cycling Ireland requirement for Covid-19 contact tracing reasons. If we reach our limit on registrations we will shut down the registration. See registration link below.

Once you have registered online, if you could post here that you have done so it would be a great help to me to organise our group/ groups for the day. It will also encourage other club members to jump on board :-))

That's it for now folks. I will post any updates as soon they happen, including route maps.

There is a great buzz and momentum around for this event and I feel its going to be a great day out. A unique sportive mainly made up of all the Cycling Clubs in Cork. I am fully confident Carrigdhoun CC will be well represented (I've talked us up so much at the meetings, lets show Cork Cycling what an amazing club we are!!)

So, get registering and posting….. thank you, Niall.

eventmaster.ie/event/le4HV8HPO?fbclid=IwAR12xpaWhNONQ_r0bpanDkU1tyElLf2OEfptBJvkz0LyMYmwHI-gAIFxDI8

[niallk]

Registered! 150k

[TimothyL]

Aug 2, 2020 11:09:43 GMT niallk said:

Registered! 150k

Registered for 70 Ks.

[TrishLee2017]

Also registered for 70km..

[johnb]

Registered for 70km !

[David Wyer]

Also registered for the 70 Km

[maurice mc cabe]

Aug 7, 2020 11:44:58 GMT David Wyer said:

Also registered for the 70 Km

Also registered for the 70 Km

[jenpower]

Registered for 70k.

[Pat Hurley]

registered for 150k.

[WalshWJ]

Registered for 150km

[TrevorDC]

Registered for 150km

[niallk]

HI Folks

Just an update on "Cycle for Tomas".

I had some feedback from club members that people may be concerned (and rightly so) about participating in a crowd event with COVID-19 on the rise again .

This will not be your usual sportif though.
The rolling start time between 8.30 and 9.30 am will prevent large gatherings and mass roll-out at the start and there will be a one-way-in one-way-out system at the check-in desk on the day. You can turn up at whatever time suits you within the hour, check in for contact tracing purposes and cycle away with your usual small pod of friends.
There will be no food stops along the way, just water stops where you can get single servings of water (500ml bottle), bananas and individually wrapped brack etc.
Social distancing will be enforced, as will the wearing of masks when not cycling.

Just thought I'd let you know and put your minds at rest.

Hope to see you all there.

Thanks

Niall.

[niallk]

Update on #cyclefortomas

Hi all. The organising team for Sunday’s cycle met tonight and we have decided to postpone the event.
This decision was not taken lightly. While we still had the OK to run it from Cycling Ireland we felt given the rise in Covid 19 cases recently and new gov guidelines issued yesterday we felt it was the right thing to do.

We will put it on at a later date when the situation with covid improves.
I’ll keep you posted.
Thank you for support.

Safe cycling.

Niall.