Precious cycling memories mean everything to Tommy

Tommy Kiely was a prolific cyclist. He accumulated an array of silverware over decades of “living for the bike”.
Those trophies and medals were never important to a modest gentleman whose passion for the bike and a craving to be in the company of people associated with the sport was boundless.
Now those trophies that surround him in his living room are invaluable to him. They provide 84 year old Tommy, who was diagnosed with dementia four years ago, a welcome escape from the clutches of a cruel condition.
Unable to live in the present Tommy can transport himself back to the past when his eyes catch a glimpse of a certain trophy on a shelf or a worn black and white picture of him or one of his friends on a bike.
The vast collection of memorabilia unlocks his mind and on a good day he mercifully has the capacity to get lost in the past.
There is a glint in the eye and a heightened sense of animation as he brings himself back to the exhilaration of the most heavenly days .
There is a special place in his heart for the iconic Col de Tourmalet and he has fond memories of supporting his hero on the summit and of taking on the challenge himself many times.

SEAN KELLY
Tommy can connect emotionally again with the many days he was filled with pride and adrenaline pumping through his veins as he urged on his hero and World Number 1 Sean Kelly to reach the famous summit of the Tour de France climb.
“They were the days, great days ,” said Tommy as he recalled the emotion of the many Tour de France adventures he had over the years and the friends he made.
Kelly was his hero and friend, and Tommy never missed an opportunity to cheer him on all over Europe and long after Kelly had retired Tommy returned to take on the Tour de France st ages himself into the nineties.
“You could see Kelly had it . He stood out from everybody,” said Tommy,so proud of what Kelly had achieved on the world stage.
Tommy lived for the bike and the company of like minded enthusiasts all of his days.
His cycling contemporaries like his brother Anthony and Gerry Moynihan and young cycling talent he encouraged like the two Clonmel brothers Dick and Anthony O’Gorman attest to the fact that Tommy never spoke about his own race victories and would never refer to trophies he won.
A lean athletic figure Tommy would never inform people of his impressive lineage. He would never casually drop into the conversation in any company that his grandfather was the famous Champion Kiely. His grandfather Tom Kiely was
Ireland's greatest all-round athlete and its first Olympic gold medallist in St Louis in 1904 but Tommy never made anybody the wiser.

RAS TAILTEANN
Tommy was a popular figure among the cycling community. He was known as a tenacious cyclist who never shied away from "doing his turn at the front", the triumph of the team was everything to him.
Tommy had a glittering career representing his county for an incredible eleven years in succession in the prestigious Ras Tailteann which he now proudly recalls.
An old picture of a Ras team sets him off as he speaks about how the arrival of the big race in Clonmel made him determined to compete in the race.
That he did when he proudly wore the county colours in the Ras from 1956 to 1967.
“We were very close one year, we nearly did it,” said Tommy. He was referring to the occasion when Tipperary came the closest they ever did to winning the event in 1958.
“After eight days cycling we were sixty eight seconds out,” said Tommy.
He has great memories of the Ras - “We had to wear the same jersey every day for eight days every year, that was the way it was then,” said Tommy.
“In those days it was all about representing your county, the honour of it, there was no commercial element then,” said Gerry Moynihan who was on the Tipperary team in 1961 with Tommy.
“Tommy had seen the RAS coming through Clonmel and from that moment on that is all he wanted to do, he was fascinated by it,” said his brother Anthony who cycled on Tipperary teams in the Ras with Tommy in 59 and 62.

THE IRONMAN
One of the highlights of Tommy’s career was winning Ras Ciarraí in 1960 against all the odds on a day when Clonmel Athletic and Cycling Club also took the team title.
"We were going down to Kerry at a time when the Ironman Murphy was without doubt the best in the county. He was something else. Nobody could have seen Murphy being beaten in his own backyard. It was some day, incredible. When we got to the finish line and were told a Tommy Kiely from Clonmel had won it we just could not believe it. It was amazing,” said Anthony who along with Tommy and the late Johnny Gearon won the prestigious team title for Clonmel A&CC on the day
The Ras Ciarraí trophy sits proudly in his living room and he is prompted to talk about the event when it is pointed out to him.
Tommy, today, is glad to be able to talk about his exploits that day sixty years ago.
“He was known as the Ironman and that is exactly what he was.Nobody could beat him but we managed it that day in Kerry,” said Tommy.
Three years earlier a Clonmel three man team consisting of the Kiely brothers and Tom Ryan won the 100 mile national title in Navan in an era when Clonmel was a stronghold for the sport.
When Tommy was no longer competing he was first in the car or bus to support local talent in events all over the country.
BOBBY POWER
He recalls travelling home from Westport after a team which contained his great friend the late Bobby Power, that won the national championship in Westport in 1982 with Larry Power, Paddy Power and Anthony O’ Gorman.
“We had great days out,” said Tommy who was also in Middleton to see Clonmel cyclist Anthony O’Gorman take the national champion title in 1988.
“Tommy never wanted to talk about what he did on the bike. He took great satisfaction out of somebody else doing well. He would have been flying the tricolour on the Tour de France stages supporting Sean long before it was popular to do so. It was not just Sean, Tommy supported everybody.I remember Tommy sitting in the bus all the way back from Westport holding the medals the lads won in his hand for the whole journey. He was just so delighted for the lads. When we got home early the next morning Tommy still wanted to chat and to get the maximum enjoyment out of the day. You could see what it meant to him,” said Dick O’Gorman.
Long after his days of competing were over Tommy took off on his daily spins from his Anne Street home.
A bronzed topless figure whose natural aerodynamic shape he assumed on the bike was a familiar sight around the traffic lights on the Western Road .
Unfortunately that sight disappeared from view. Tommy became nervous on the bike after a crash in 2013 but he continued to cycle up to his 80th year before dementia took hold.
“He is confined now a lot to the house, thankfully he has precious memories and it is a blessing that he is able to connect with those good days ,” said his sister Carmel.